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TypePad is not for law firm marketing blog : Popular social blogging solution suffers growing problems

First, I love TypePad, a web based blogging solution. It's brought blogging to the masses in way that that no other company has. TypePad's features beat the heck out of Blogger and the other free or next to no cost blogging tools out there. I used TypePad to get my introduction to blogging back in 2003 and early 2004. I learned a ton and am forever grateful to SixApart, TypePad's producer.

But TypePad is for consumers and social blogging. Heck, SixApart knows that. Look at the home page of TypePad with it's pictures of a 3 year old toddler playing with an iBook and an infant.

Slow server speed, inability to rebuild a blog at times and a potential loss of content may be okay for posting messages about a family's weekend activities and sharing photo's but it is not okay for law firms looking for a professional Internet marketing blog.

Just look at the TypePad frustration expressed by Neville Hobson, a British business communicator and long time Typepad user.

I'm trying to put this into perspective with my experience on Sunday when I spent nearly five hours trying to create and set up a new multi-author TypePad blog (for a conference – news about that soon) where the time I spent should have been about 45 minutes, an hour at most. I guess I was unlucky in that what I was doing – things like creating and editing a theme, creating typelists, writing and editing sample posts, etc – required constant interaction with the TypePad servers. I think I've now memorized the error codes from the 'gateway timeout' and 'internal server error' messages I received with literally every server interaction. I did eventually manage to get the new blog finished, but the air in my office by that time was a bit blue.

So what to make of the email where it says “over the last two days we have made significant progress in relieving the stress on the servers in the old data center and completing the move”? It hasn't relieved my stress! I certainly saw no difference on Sunday to the treacly performance that I've experienced in recent weeks which, to my perception as a user, has steadily been getting worse.

Can you imagine a lawyer experiencing the same on a Sunday afternoon railing on a law firm marketing professional for setting the firm up on a TypePad based blog. There's no customer service to immediately correct the problem, no dedicated server for the law firm's blog and no dedicated blog IT crew to work with.

I do not want to be overly critical of TypePad. They are growing big time. They also are among the best in communicating with customers about service problems. Just pointing out that it's inappropriate to outsource Internet marketing when a blog will be run on TypePad.

Note: Movable Type, also produced by SixApart, is not the same as Typepad. Movable Type is the premier weblog publishing platform for businesses, organizations, developers, and web designers. Powerful customization gives devlopers control over everything they need for providing an effective publishing tool and elegant designs that keep things simple and clear. LexBlog uses a customized Movable Type for its blogs.

  • http://www.jonathangstein.com Jonathan Stein

    Kevin -
    I am a bit confused. First, you say that Typepad is “not okay for law firms looking for a professional Internet marketing blog.” Then, later you say “Just pointing out that it's inappropriate to outsource Internet marketing when a blog will be run on TypePad.”
    I think the second point is accurate. You cannot use Typepad if you are outsourcing your marketing. But, for solos and small firms, where the work is being done in house by someone who has a vested interest in the outcome, Typepad can work.
    Keep up the great work.

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin O'Keefe

    Apologize Jonathon for not being very clear. I should probably go back and correct things.
    I really do believe longterm, whether you are a large or small law firm, vested interest or not, that TypePad is not a good fit for professional marketing. It's features are limited and you're at risk to suffer the problems mentioned above.
    I really question the logic in trying to get buy on marketing that costs $5 or $10 a month when the real goal should be growing the firm via professional marketing.
    Doing a blog in a professional manner is dirt cheap compared to yellow pages, print or any other advertising, let alone the time in offline networking.
    TypePad is just not a good fit for law firm marketing.

  • http://www.legalunderground.com Evan

    I've used Typepad for two years and like it. There have been some problems, but none that were really all that serious. In those two years, there have been only a couple of time, lasting at the most a few hours, when my weblog wasn't accessible. Some other times there is a delay when trying to post–but a delay in seconds, not minutes.
    Despite all this, I still feel like going with a hosted weblog like Typepad makes you too dependent on an organization over which you have absolutely no control. That's why I wouldn't go with Typepad if I had to do it over again.

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin O'Keefe

    Thanks for the comment Evan. I was wondering what I would hear from folks like yourself who have built a heck of reputation via the typepad platform.
    We're working with the Six Apart folks on the proper positioning of the modified Movable Type platform we use. They've given my Web production head some talking points that I'll track down and post.
    Assume you will be in Chicago next week. Look forward to meeting.