There is no question that lawyers are embracing blogs as a business development tool in record numbers. Their expectations are not off the mark. Blogs are an excellent marketing tool because they deliver exactly what search engines want: targeted content updated on a regular basis that attracts inbound links. The high search engine visibility of blogs, in turn, attracts media visibility, which helps lawyers build their reputations as thought leaders in niche practice areas.
However, as the number of lawyer blogs proliferate, obtaining a high search engine ranking may longer be enough to realize the business development potential of a blog. As the use of blogs among attorneys proliferates, differences in quality between blogs will become more evident. Clients, prospects, jouranalists and other individuals targeted by a lawyer can only read so many blogs a day (and this includes blogs on politics, gadgets, health, etc.), and will therefore start to become more and more discriminating about which lawyer blogs they follow on a regular basis.
It is therefore critical for a lawyer launching a blog to follow "best practices" that will distinguish his or her blog from the competition.
At eLawMarketing, we recently published a white paper entitled Attorney Blogging Best Practices, that will get you started with an overview of "best practices" in the areas of blog design, content development and promotion.
Download the white paper here.
If I am a solo practitioner and have to choose between launching a website and launching a blog, which should I do first?
Posted by: Sam Domb | December 23, 2007 at 05:55 PM