Law blog belongs outside a website, law firm's brand notwithstanding
I am absolutely lost on the argument that when a law firm is concerned about their brand, they may want to put their blog(s) in the law firm website.
We work with hundreds of law firms and thousands of lawyers on blogs. Virtually all of those law firms are concerned about their brand.
Each and everyone of their blogs is outside their website. Not because we tell them they have to do it this way. But because it's the right way. I've blogged about the point here and here.
Key to these firms is first a blog design that compliments their other collateral, website included. Second and even more important is that these firms know that a professional service firm's brand is built upon a reputation - a reputation for being a thought leader and a reliable trusted authority in niche areas of the law.
Though appearance is important, a brand for a good lawyer is not about design, collars, logo's and the like. If lawyers known as authorities in a niche leave a firm, where do you think the clients needing work on that niche area are going? Do you think the clients are staying because of a branded color, design, and logo? Hardly.
Blogs outside of websites get cited more often. Why? Because they are viewed more credibly.
And when you have a blog that's cited more often, you have a blog that's viewed as an influential blog by the technology that pulls in syndicated blog feeds to mainstream media such as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. And the number of those publications pulling in syndicated feeds from law blogs is going to explode in the coming year or two.
Look at the Wall Street Journal today for 'Breaking Law Stories from Around the Web.' It's an edited feature in the law section of the online journal each day that begins with a call out and excerpt at this WSJ law page.
While some of the WSJ's breaking law stories come from the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, or Time Magazine, most of the breaking law stories come from law blogs. Law blogs viewed as influential and whose content is pulled in by syndication.
Today there are 24 law blog posts displayed by virtue of syndication at the Wall Street Journal. Not one comes from a blog inside a website. Coincidence? Hardly.
And one of those blog posts being displayed today by the WSJ is a personal injury blog post written by a plaintiff's lawyer, not a group the WSJ favors. That being John Day's 'Day on Torts.'
Hello Kevin, my main point is that you state emphatically that there is no other way to run a blog, than to run it on its own domain; that the blog and law firm web site have to be "separate".
I disagree with that statement. That determination should be made on a case-by-case basis.
1. Sometimes its correct to run a blog on its own domain, with its own brand.
2. Sometimes its correct to run a blog on its own domain, with a identity that is similar to the law firm's brand.
3. Sometimes, its correct to run a blog under the law firm's domain with the exact same identity and brand of the firm.
It just all depends. You cannot state one way works for all clients, even if you have built hundreds of blogs, as there are other factors that go into an analysis.
You are correct and that the law firm brand is more than colors, logos and design. If you want to get picky, the firm's brand is a collection of its logo, colors, print materials, online materials, web site, blog, office space, suits, cars, ideas, opinions, networking, cases, and of course actual members of the firm. The design of the blog and web site should back that up and be consistent across their blog and web site.
You and I both know, there are plenty of law firms that think that simply slapping a logo on a blog, creates their brand. That is not the case and they should revise their online marketing, as their message could be missed.
As for citation, just because a blog is separate from a firm's web site, does not mean it will be cited more.
Off the cuff, I can name a few successful blogs that reside under the main domain of the company and are cited a lot in the media, bloggers and also syndicated a lot:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog
http://www.legaline.com/lawsites.html
http://www.seobook.com/blog
They all created one central blog and one web site. It benefits them greatly due to increased readership, optimization and presumably decreased maintenance costs.
You mention Onespot of the Wall Street Journal.
First, let's not confuse citation with syndication. Getting cited in an actual article in the WSJ and NY Times is due to the fact that you are typically the expert on the topic being written about (or the first one to call a journalist back with the proper credentials). :) Getting cited in an article is an achievement and a blog or web site can help in that matter. We have clients with great sites, top ranked, who are cited in the media without any blogs.
Getting syndicated by OneSpot is a bit different as the editorial control is a lot lower than traditional WSJ and NY Times editorial process. Right now there 37 legal articles onespot.wsj.com of which the majority are newspaper links.
18 Newspapers linked/syndicated
11 Own Blogs/Site linked/syndicated
6 Typepad/Blogger/Blogspot linked/syndicated
2 Unknowns linked/syndicated.
I checked out each site and this analysis does tell me is that its best to be a newspaper. It also tells me that OneSpot does not care about design, domains, or branding. It even seems that that they might not care about content, as there are some really odd articles being syndicated.
Anyways, I again state that a blog does not have to be on its own domain/brand to be successful. It can reside under the main firms web site. I guess we will find out whether the proof is in the pudding in a month when we start posting weekly topics on web design. :)
Thanks for the comment Pete, though you'll never get me to concede burying a blog in a law firm website is something that should be considered on occasion.
You're missing my point. Forget the domain issue. We have some blogs on sub-domains that are not 'inside a law firm website,' though I would never advise doing so anymore.
You mention Bob Ambrogi's legal lines blog as an example of a blog inside a website. Bob's blog is outside the website - it's not buried in the navigation of his website. The blog and website don't even have the same navigation scheme.
Lots of people say 'just because a blog is separate from a firm's web site, does not mean it will be cited more.' The fact is that blogs outside a website are cited more. I see 1,000's of law blogs, we monitor 1,000's more in LexMonitor, I see which law blogs that technology are measuring as influential because of citations of the blog. The ones cited most are blogs outside a website.
I am not sure why you are so quick to dismiss the WSJ's pulling in blogs by syndication. You're implying there's no editorial control over it. That's bunk. Look at what the WSJ site says above the syndicated breaking news from the law, 'Edited by The Wall Street Journal.'
WSJ uses onespot because onespot does an incredible job of picking up influential blog posts. There are 24 law blog posts syndicated to the WSJ under breaking news in the law today. That's a fact. And it's equally true that none of those 24 posts come from blogs in a website.
I'll take my client's blogs being syndicated to the WSJ. I personally get hundreds of new unique visitors to my blog each time the WSJ pulls in one of my blog posts by syndication. Happened each of the last 2 weeks.
One non client lawyer asked if we had an in with the WSJ with so many of our blogs showing up there. Of course we don't. It's just the result of having good lawyers as clients and those lawyers using a blog effectively. One key to effectiveness being having the blog outside the law firm website.
I am reaching for something higher for my clients than a website Pete. I want them viewed as thought leaders. I don't see websites delivering on that front.
Dragging what is a powerful client development, networking, and learning tool like blogging back into a website is a step backwards any way I look at it.
If you properly design a web site and blog, there is no dragging anything back. Rather it would be moving it forward into an integrated marketing effort.
Websites deliver on all accounts. The can be professional designed, include a blog or blogs, include social media applications and be the one-stop shop for everything.
Whether a law firm becomes a thought leader takes more than a web site, blog, or social media application. It takes talent and a passion for a practice area.
I do believe that the voice of the blog or web site is the most important factor in getting credibility, citation, and an online brand. Talent will rise above everything, including domain and branding issues that we debate.
I blast the WSJ syndicated content because of the 37 posts I read/skimmed, about half seemed off. Either the design of the site was off or the content was off. Replacing editors with an algorithm (the goal of OneSpot), even with editorial review can still lead to a poor syndicated list.
I quote OneSpot "OneSpot’s aggregation helps WSJ become the legal information destination, while still allowing editors to have control over quality content in no more than 5 minutes a day." http://www.onespot.com/success-stories/ Wow, five minutes a day. That seems like a lot of time is spent on editorial control. Heh.
Anyways, that is a bit off topic. We can debate the merits of OneSpot later. It's a step in the right direction of sorting through a crowded market of online media. It just needs to be a bit more personalized, if they want to put the WSJ stamp of approval on it. I just hold them to a higher standard.
I don't disagree that any citation or syndication is good marketing. Getting syndicated on the WSJ is solid and we will definitely be looking into that more. :)
Finally, Bob's web site is under his web site domain:
http://www.legaline.com/lawsites.html
That passes over a lot of link juice to his main site - http://www.legaline.com. Anytime someone links to his articles on his blog, his main site gets points too. Nice!
That was the main thrust of my original post on this topic.
Bob's side is outside his sit as far as appearance. That's been my point.
As far of Google juice to his website, that's great. It's also short cited and is not what gets the best lawyers the best work from the best clients. That comes from a word of mouth reputation generated online and frankly has nothing to do with a website.
I am not saying it's the case with you Pete, but in the case of far too many website developers, all Internet marketing revolves around a law firm website. What can we do to benefit a website? If we do a blog, how does it benefit the website? How do we get more links to a website? How do we draw more traffic to a website?
Blogging like other high level marketing does not involve the question of what is best for the website. It involves doing what is best to further enhance my reputation as a leading lawyer, doing what what is best to establish myself as a reliable and trusted authority in a niche, doing what is best for networking, and doing what is best as far as growing professionally as a better lawyer.
That's what drives my advise to clients when it comes to blogs. My decisions are not driven by what is best for my website.
I was citing Bob's as that his blog is under his main directory, and not a subdomain, or different domain. The other two blogs I cited are not different in terms of appearance. There are countless others where the blog resides under the main domain, looks the same, and is successful.
I am not saying that you cannot or shouldn't have a blog on its own domain. It's just that you can make it successful under your own domain.
It's the content in the blog that makes the difference. Is the voice of the author interesting enough to read? Is the author professional enough and has the experience to be an industry leader.
The link juice issue is not short sighted at all. Good work comes from all types of cases. Just like our clients, we get a lot of our best work from search rankings. To ignore search means you give up a lot of potential clients.
If you can have the best of both worlds in creating a blog and web site that assist each other, why not do both and become an industry leader and a top ranked site.
Anyways, this has been a fun discussion.
i like this website on the legal affairs and the lawsuits and much more.nice to have a website like this and one must have more such blogs in order to stay on the blog websites.