If you ever built a house, you understand the importance of designing the structure or floor plan with an architect before laying the foundation. If you are an attorney, you understand the importance of doing some discovery about your client and case before presenting to a judge.

GUEST BLOGGER: Matthew Gallizzi, CEO - Notix Technology Solutions

Facebook mobile has over 100 million users and is growing faster than desktops. Morgan Stanley believes that more users will be connected to the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within five years. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha told Reuters that Android-powered mobile devices are selling faster than they can be manufactured.

I remember being eight and all I wanted for Christmas was "Game and Watch" games. Game and Watch by Nintendo, was a handheld gaming unit made in the early 80s, with an LCD screen and very simple motion. In my mind, this was the seed of the moblie generation and I'd like to believe that this revolution may have started with me. ;)

You just bought a parcel of land and are planning to build a brand new home, your dream home. Would you start building this home without an architecture or floor plan? I would hope not. And the same goes for building a website.

Blueprints are to a house, like sitemaps and wireframes are to a website. Information architecture requires a significant amount of hours of research and discovery long before the designer touches the canvas with their interactive tools.

We all want our websites to be found, positioned and ranked high by search engines. Are you checking to see that your site is attracting traffic? Or, are your professionals sending you emails asking you why your firm’s site doesn’t appear on the first or even the second page of search results? SEO is not optional; it is critical to the success when designing or redesigning websites. We all have websites; we all have to take SEO into consideration when building our sites!

A couple of weeks ago, a friend a mine asked me if he could pick my brain about developing his website. After talking for a while, I realized the questions he was asking were probably common for many professional service marketers as well. While he understood the basics of developing a website, his questions were more about the big picture and what makes an effective website.

On January 28 I moderated an innovative virtual panel discussion examining three of the first efforts at law firms to implement integrated social media campaigns. Kelly Hoey from 85Broads, Russell Lawson from Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, PC, Andrea K. Stimmel from Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP and I explored our social networks in real time while participants connected, shared their thoughts and posed questions on twitter using the hastag #ISMC.

As marketing professionals, we are continually searching for ways to extend our brand and touch our clients and prospects in a cost effective way, but how do you know your tactics are effective? Now more than ever, we should be building tools into our marketing strategy to track and analyze the results.

As law firms continue to struggle under the weight of the economic downturn, online positioning and advertising opportunities have emerged as an inexpensive way to elevate their brand and raise name awareness. Increasing your online visibility can draw more visitors to your website, position you as a thought leader and attract new customers.

If you’re not looking ahead you’re falling behind. To help you stay on the leading edge in 2010, here’s a list of top trends you should consider when developing your marketing plan for 2010.