Even if your blog focuses on one geographic area, like a city or part of a state, that does not mean you can’t address national issues in your blog posts.
As Springfield, Missouri personal injury lawyer Jason Krebs shows in his Springfield Injury Law Blog, you can use a blog to show how national issues apply to clients at home.
"I read a lot of periodicals and news publications and often use current events and news reports to spark a blog post idea," Jason says. "My focus in on serving clients in my own area of Southwest Missouri so even if it is a national story, I still want to make it relevant locally. I try to tie my posts back to how it is applicable to an actual person in Greene County, MO or the surrounding area by quoting Missouri law and/or local statues to keep it interesting and relevant."
There are plenty of personal injury blogs out there that don’t make the best use of their forum to answer questions and make the law understandable for non-lawyers, so it’s refreshing to see a blog like Jason’s that does a good job of it.
We talked to Jason for this LexBlog Q&A about the challenging parts of blogging and the different kinds of blogs out there.
See our e-mail exchange with Jason (after the jump).
Lisa Kennelly: Why did you decide to start blogging?
Jason Krebs: I started the Springfield Injury Law Blog because wanted a way to provide potential clients with more information about the law and legal issues as it relates to personal injury cases, as well as a way to help communicate my own competence in the area of representing the seriously injured.
Lisa Kennelly: What has been most rewarding about blogging? What has been most challenging?
Jason Krebs: [One] challenging part about blogging is writing concise blog posts that are detailed enough to provide adequate information, but not too lengthy as to discourage people from reading them. When writing an injury case, product liability law or related court ruling, I want to provide all sides of the issue, as well as, describe the matter in sufficient detail to make it understandable. Sometimes this can mean I am writing too long of posts and I need to break up the posts, or subdivide the topic into several separate entries. As with all good writing, good editing is key.
Lisa Kennelly: What has been the response to your blog from clients, other lawyers or anyone else?
Jason Krebs: Overall, very positive.
Lisa Kennelly: Many first-time bloggers (and long-time ones as well) can have trouble thinking of blog post topics. What do you use for inspiration when you get stuck?
Jason Krebs: I read a lot of periodicals and news publications and often use current events and news reports to spark a blog post idea. My focus in on serving clients in my own area of Southwest Missouri so even if it is a national story, I still want to make it relevant locally. I try to tie my posts back to how it is applicable to an actual person in Greene County, MO or the surrounding area by quoting Missouri law and/or local statues to keep it interesting and relevant.
Lisa Kennelly: There are a lot of dubious personal injury attorney blogs out there (Kevin has railed against them multiple times). What is your opinion of most personal injury blogs?
Jason Krebs: I think a blog is a reflection of one’s personality and that is why it is a helpful tool for potential clients to use when researching the selection of an attorney. There is going to be as many different approaches to blog content and composition as there are attorneys, similarly to how there could be are different approaches to the same case or different style of presentation in the courtroom. To each his own. Should someone take a different approach from what I would choose and be successful, who am I to judge?
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