We have just added a new feature to LawSites that enables readers to explore more about the products and product-categories I cover here.

Now, when you are reading a post, the sidebar provides direct links to related product listings in the LawNext Legal Technology Directory.

The links are of two types:

• To any products expressly mentioned in the post.
• To products related to the categories of legal tech discussed in the post. (The sidebar shows the five highest-ranked products in the related categories.)

For example, the featured image above shows a post I wrote earlier this week about an agreement between the law practice management company Smokeball and the State Bar of Texas to provide free trust accounting software to bar members.

Look at the sidebar to the right of the post. Because the article expressly mentions two products, Smokeball and Nota, they appear in the sidebar under the heading “Products in this Post” with links to their LawNext Directory listings.

In addition, because the post is about the legal tech categories of “law practice management suites” and “accounting/finance,” the section “Related Products” links to other products in the directory related to the topic.

In this way, a reader can quickly learn more about a mentioned product or about a category of products.

At the same time, for vendors with listings in the directory, it gives their products greater exposure. In fact, just since we launched this earlier this month, some products have received substantial numbers of impressions.

(By the way, you won’t see the sidebar next to this post because it is not about any specific product or category of products.)

Launch Phase

Through the end of July, all products — regardless of listing type — will be featured in these new sections. However, starting Aug. 1, only products with enhanced listings will appear in these sidebar sections.

That means that if you are a vendor with a free basic listing, you will need to login to the vendor portal and change your plan to an enhanced listing by Aug. 1 in order to continue to receive placements on LawSites.

The good news is, an enhanced listing is cheap and brings an array of other benefits in terms of branding, visibility and customer engagement.

And if you do not have a listing at all, then you won’t show up at all.

If you are a vendor, you can compare the directory’s pricing tiers here or go directly to the vendor portal to add or update a listing.