Comments on Blawg? No marketing company would recommend one | Real Lawyers Have Blogs

aflusche@gmail.com (Andrew Flusche) — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 18:56:14 -0800

I commend your approach to the "blawg" v. "blog" debate. You're absolutely right that it is just some cutsie legalese that ends up alienating people.

With that said, I do use "blawg" a bit in my posts. However, most of the times I use it are specifically aimed at drawing in users who typed that search term (as you mentioned).

I better get back to work on my "lawtop" computer.

dpr@dunn-carney.com (David Rossmiller) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 07:21:47 -0800

You are on the money with your post, Kevin. While I have grown somewhat accustomed to seeing the word "blawg," it still strikes me as elitist and antithetical to blogging, which should be based on transparency and a theory of explaining complex things in simple, understandable and entertaining ways. Although a lot of lawyers read my blog, I try not to orient it to the legal profession, but rather to anyone who is knowledgeable or wants to be knowledgeable about insurance coverage law.

sitecom@tinet.ie (FERGUS O'ROURKE) — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 06:57:37 -0800

Kevin,

Not only do I dislike "blawg", I hate the word "blog" as well. See my post about it at
http://www.irish-lawyer.com/old-notes/.

Here, in the land of your ancestors (I presume), the dreaded word has not yet passed into the language. I am hoping to kill it at birth.

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin OKeefe) — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 07:20:18 -0800

I was not a fan of the word blog either Fergus thinking when I got into this blog thing that no lawyer of good taste would have a 'blog.' I was happy to call them anything else.

As I got further along, I realized it was what it was. People, mostly non lawyers, called them blogs. Became clear to me we were going to have a third leg to Internet communication, blogs & RSS. The other two being email and the WWW.

I also viewed blogs as something that would break down the lines of communication between lawyers and lay people. So I was not about to say, we lawyers are different again and will not have blogs like the rest of you.

trout@bretttrout.com (Brett Trout) — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:38:22 -0800

Respectfully, have you seen some of the lawyer advertising out there? I do not think I would rely on a legal marketing, website development or public relations company as the sole voice in buttressing the reputation of my law firm. I guess that if even the web's biggest "blawg" opponent uses the term to reference items for search engines there must be something there. You appreciate the importance of the term "blawg" and use it for what I would assume is the same reason I use it. People are looking for it.

As a trademark attorney, I like the term "blawg." It conveys a lot of information very efficiently. The only think I do not like about it is that it sounds the same as "blog." You cannot have everything I guess. Is there a better term out there? Probably. There is probably a better term for a lot of things. The fact is that "blawg" got there first and "blawg" is what the people want.

Personally I do not find the word "blawg" cute or funny. I use it because my readers use it. I am not in the business of telling readers or clients what to do? I ask them what they want and, based upon my expertise, advise them as to the best way to get from point A to point B. I applaud your ongoing effort, but I think this is one windmill you are not going to be able to tilt.