Blawg In A Box

There’s apparently a conflict between Talian (our prior theme) and the latest WordPress upgrade. I’ve disabled the theme temporarily while we work to resolve the CSS in the template files to “play nice.” Enjoy the “classic look” for now!

Edited: We’ve installed a new theme called “130106.” Haven’t made a decision about it one way or the other yet. It’ll do until we can either (A) fix Talian or (B) find a new (FREE!) theme we like better. Comments welcome!

After much angst and such, we finally got the contact form working again. Actually, there was a conflict between the plugin and the blog’s theme. Tinkering with the CSS didn’t seem to resolve it, so I went with a simpler form plugin. I’d actually preferred the earlier plugin’s resulting form, but this gets the job done without the conflict.

Lesson for blawggers: Sometimes you just have to tinker until you get it right, and don’t get married to one solution too quickly. Keep looking until you get it right. And what’s right for one blog isn’t necessarily right for another.

Also: whatever you do, get that contact form up! Treat it as a priority, which it is.

It’s been awhile! How you doing over there? Have a good holiday? Yeah, me too. I got a new blog theme for Christmas. It’s really more of a group gift for all of us. What do you think?

And, true to my philosophy, it’s a freely-available theme called Talian 1.0 with a custom photo that I bought from IStockPhoto.com for a buck. (Yes, that’s one dollar.)

What can you expect in the coming weeks? A revamped, retooled, reenergized Blawg In A Box, for one. For another thing (or four):

• You talked, I listened. Shorter posts will be mixed in with the lengthier missives. Hey, give a Coach a break: I get going on this stuff and I can’t stop. But I will, just for you. So you can expect some short (one paragraph) “Tips and Tricks” posts mixed in with the longer stuff.
• Theme profiles. I’ll be looking at the free themes and pointing out the good - and the not-so-good - to help you feel more comfortable picking your own theme.
• More content advice, more management advice. These are the two biggies — how do I find stuff to blog about? How do I do this without cloning myself? — and I’ve got some tips (sites, applications, tools, and suggestions) that will make it all easier.
• Reassurance and clarity. If I can do anything with this blog, I hope it’s to reassure new blawggers that it’s OK, you’ll be fine, and you CAN do this successfully — and it’s not that hard. (Shhh - don’t tell the other coaches and consultants.)

It all starts up on Monday, February 4th. Be there or be square!

Blawg In A Box has gone bloggy, and we’re never going back. It finally occurred to me: if you’re going to preach the value of the blog in solo and small firm law practices, then shouldn’t you do so from a blog? Actually, I always meant to make the conversion at some point - it’s just that when Blawg In A Box, the service package line, was first conceived, I had a huge fast deadline to meet, and several smaller ones right after that. I knew I couldn’t devote the time necessary to making a new blog successful, so I opted for the canned website templates that wouldn’t need updating.

But now, it’s a whole different story. With the news announced in this TIS post, I’m now all about the mission. And the mission? To preach the gospel of blawgs-as-marketing to solo and small firm lawyers. And what better place to do that than here, on a brand spanking new blog?

If it looks a little - well, plain, around here - especially considering the sweet custom design job over at my other pad, The Inspired Solo, there’s a good reason for that: I’m conducting an experiment. I’ve posted before at TIS about my belief that the looks of a blog are completely secondary to what really counts - the content, the structure, and your participation in the conversation at the heart of good blogging. This is my chance to prove it for real, with a brand new “from scratch” site, and that’s what I’m doing.

This is the default WordPress theme (though I did change the header colors from blue to red, just ’cause), and while I make no promises that I’ll never change the looks (I’m too much of a girl for that - I love me a makeover), I will promise that I’m not seeking any pro designs for at least the remainder of this year. I want to see if I’m right about the secondary importance of design. And if I’m wrong, I’ll tell you. (If I’m right, you can bet I’ll tell you that, too. I am, after all, a lawyer at heart. And a blogger. Double dose.)

So, welcome to the new, improved conversation! If you want to learn how to blog for your law practice, or how to do it better, you’re in the right spot. I aim for nothing less than to make this blog the one and only stop for blawggers to learn the craft and art of blogging for clients.

We’re in the midst of a massive redesign of the BlawgInABox.com site - your patience is appreciated!  When the dropcloths come off, Blawg In A Box will be practicing what it preaches - powerful blogging advice for law bloggers, from a blog!