Blawg bleakness : 'Blog' generates 25 times more Google searches than 'Blawg'
Many lawyers seem hell bent on calling their 'legal blog' or 'law blog' a 'blawg.'
That's okay if your blog is being used as an academic experience, but not if your blog is being used to generate business, part of which is generated through search engines.
I just did a quick check of blog versus blawg in the number of Google searches for the month of August. 12,285 searches for 'blog'. 474 for 'blawg.' If you care about click through rates on sponsored links on those terms, it's also bleak for 'blawg.' Blog gets a 1.6% click through rate. 'Blawg' does a .21%.
What does this tell us? Well, admittedly more people search for the term 'blog' than 'blawg' by a 25 to 1 margin. Sure there are other types of blogs than law blogs so that number is going to be skewed higher. And more people find law blogs by just searching for a lawyer or doing research on a relevant subject than when searching for 'blog' or 'blawg.'
But these findings ought to concern any lawyer thinking about following the crowd that think it's cute to use legaleze to call their blog a 'blawg.' Do you really think the public knows what a 'blawg' is?
I know if people ask what your 'blawg' is, you can just tell them. Confusion cleared up in a second. You can use the phrase 'pro tempre' too. Just tell folks who ask it means temporary. Confusion cleared up in a second.
This great 'blawg debate' brings out the best in all of us. It's kind like arguing over religion. But I'll not be advising lawyers anytime soon to call their blog a 'blawg.'
Great point Kevin. I get asked in the non-legal world all the time what "Blawgs" are. If non-lawyers are confused, you can bet the Google bot will be confused and your "blawg" will suffer bc of it.
Mark Britton
CEO, Avvo
www.avvo.com
Kevin... I do agree.... I use the term in a post-ironic way.... not, as some have suggested, because I had drunk too much when I did the header.
And everyone knows that Blawg refers to the Huskie Dawg Blawg covering the UW football team - or lack of football team based on the 0-2 start.
UW - Still better than Duke!
I couldn't help but look this up:
Domain Name: LEXBLAWG.COM
Created on: 09-Feb-06
Expires on: 09-Feb-09
Last Updated on: 09-Feb-08
Administrative Contact:
O'Keefe, Kevin
* * * *
Too bad it points to a landing page now instead of being redirected to your main site.
Frankly, I wonder if we should be calling our blogs "blogs" at all. However proud we may be, blogging is still looked down upon by many in the profession (and not just those still using dictaphones).
In fairness to newer law bloggers, some of the more experienced law bloggers did come up with the term "blawg" in the first place and used it to describe their blogs.
Please. This is much ado about nothing. You can use both terms, calling it a blog if you buy search advertising, and a blawg when you're talking to other members of the profession.
It's like how lawyers speak in jargon when they're arguing a motion, and in plain English when they're talking to a jury. Lawyers know how to talk to different audiences.
And I say that as the proud publisher of the ABA Journal Blawg 100: http://www.abajournal.com/blawgs/blawg100
Ed, the ABA has done some good stuff including with the ABA law blog directory.
But promoting legaleze, as opposed to the language that everyday people use, may be part of the reason the ABA has had little effect in improving the image of our profession.
Highest compliment I got from jurors and clients was that I didn't sound like other lawyers. Lawyers should want to be more like everyday people in our society, not more like other lawyers - at least I would think so.
I don't begrudge lawyers who called their law blogs 'blawgs.' Heck, I learned a ton following them and have the utmost respect for them.
I'm just saying for lawyers new to blogging, I would not get caught up in the mistake of labeling their blog, a word widely known by the public, as a 'blawg.'
Good points on the 'blog' v. 'blawg' difference, however, is there a stigma attached to either form? I'm in the process of starting a blog/blawg/website and I have consciously steered clear of both terms out of a perception that lawyers are less interested in a 'blog' or 'blawg'. We'll see how it goes.
Probably does not matter what you call your blog, I just would not call it a blawg because of the risk of confusion to non-lawyers.
A very succesful blog may not be called a blog at all. Look at the Climate Law Update by Thelen Reid. The term 'blog' is no where in the name.
But through effective blogging - good content, referencing third party publishers, subscribing to RSS feeds by source and subject, and the use of social media, the blog is very successful.