This past week, two lawyers contacted me, asking how to be included in the Arizona Attorney Blog Network.
Fortunately, they contacted the right guy. After a few questions and a quick view of what kind of content they were posting, they were listed on our site.
But then I wondered, as I often do: What do those lawyers and law firms get out of the blogging experience? What are their goals for using the medium? And do they feel they’ve been successful?
(I know; I could simply ask them those questions. Well, they really just wanted us to post their content without a lot of jibber-jabber. But maybe next time.)
I admire those lawyers who opt to blog. They not only carve time out of busy practices; they also weather the critique, overt and covert, of others, who insist that blogging is either a time-sink or an ethical minefield—or both.
If you’ve ever wondered about the same issues, and if you think the answer is to abandon blogging, take a look at an interesting post from the U.K. Titled “Are Blogs Any Use to Law Firms?” it examines some of the elements that may make a blog not worth a lawyer’s time.
But if you’re nodding in agreement, you should pause your head-bob to read Joe Reevy’s complete post carefully. No; he’s really not saying that blogging is a waste of time—quite the opposite. Instead, he makes concrete suggestions that may yield more positive results for your legal blog.
If you consider and implement Reevy’s three strategies for success, you will likely see a spike in engagement with your audience. And that—not just increased billings—is what it’s really all about.
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July 18, 2014 at 10:02 am
Thanks for mentioning my post, Tim. The real issue is simple, I think. Doing your web-based communications in a well thought-out way, with a defined purpose, is a lot better that just filling cyberspace with a lot of verbiage. All good marketing is targeted and if your blogging is intended to have a marketing benefit then it should follow the three precepts.
In my view most of the blogging I see is done for the emotional benefit of the blogger, not the reader, or indeed the financial benefit of the blogger/blogger’s firm.
PS Although I live in England, I am from the US.
July 18, 2014 at 10:19 am
Agreed, Joe, and very well put. I suppose that last problem you mentioned (writing that is too little focused on the readers’ needs and wants) is one that has dogged many print publications for a generation. But it seems to have grown worse online, where a misinformed (and misunderstood) focus on “SEO above all” has created uselessness where there should be value. Thank you again for your insights!
July 18, 2014 at 10:26 am
Can’t disagree with that. Don’t even get me started on what a lousy investment SEO is (in the UK anyway) for most firms…as I put it, it’s the right answer to the wrong question.