Lawyers are not born bloggers. It takes year plus, lot of support, and team effort.
There's been a lot of discussion over the years about how good blogging is so easy for lawyers. All you need is a skeleton blog and a law degree and you're ready to go.
One VC backed startup in an effort to bring in a few bucks recently even started selling law blogs for 'less than buck a day.' Service is limited to giving you a wordpress blog and getting it on the net on your domain. Wow! That's easy. I'm on my way to client development success with the help of a company whose business model is not based on blogging.
I could be wrong, but I think lawyers need a little more training and support when it comes to blogging as a means of networking through the net for client development purposes. And most importantly how to blog in a professional, and ethically permissible fashion so as to avoid embarrassment.
I'm basing this on 6 years of work with what is now over 2,500 lawyers on our LexBlog client blogs. And all we do is blogs - no directory, no lawyer ratings service, not building a free law portal - just blogs. So my livelihood and the livelihood of our team of 20 depends on lawyers blogging well and in a way which generates a ROI for our lawyer and law firm clients.
Working with Pam Garfield, LexBlog's head of client services and a former practicing lawyer, and talking with countless lawyers and legal marketing professionals, both clients and prospective clients, LexBlog is finding lawyers want and need a long term training and support program. Even LexBlog's one-on-one training and strategy sessions of 4 or 5 hours over the first couple months was too much too fast. Such training didn't give lawyers time to digest what they were learning.
So Pam and I are working on a one year program for lawyers to learn blogging for client development.
The end goal is to have good lawyers growing and building relationships with their target audience of clients, prospective clients, referral sources, and the influencers of those three. The influencers including bloggers, reporters, editors, conference coordinators, publishers, and the general community in which you practice - defined by niche or locale.
How do we see the one year breaking down?
- First 90 days is focused on getting used to blog publishing.
- How does a post differ from an article or newsletter?
- What are good titles and categories - knowing the import of those for title tags/SEO and display in syndication in newsreaders, news sites, and websites?
- Good use of images in proportional size with text floating around the right and left so you pick up a newspaper or magazine feel.
- The proper use of bullets, bolds, and block quotes knowing how people scan on the net and how Google understands the emphasis of content.
- The proper way of linking and doing so in way that's well accepted etiquette in blog publishing.
- What's fair use in citing others' content so as not to violate copyright laws?
- Where do I get images to use?
- The list is endless and working with clients on posting 3 to 5 posts before blog launch and reviewing posts for 90 days gets lawyers started the right way.
- Second 90 days is the introduction of RSS. Rather than search and browse, the busiest people in the country search, browse and subscribe. They subscribe to sources (news sites, blogs, newspapers, news columns, you name it) through the use of RSS feeds and a feed reader. LexBlog editors will provide client lawyers an OPML file of an A-List of Sources and an A-List of Subjects to put in their feed reader, but that's not enough.
- What is RSS?
- How do I use it?
- Is it free?
- How do I subscribe to a blog, news site, newspaper column, or industry publication?
- How do I use Google and other sources to find these things to subscribe to?
- How do I subscribe to subjects such as terms of art in my practice area/industry I serve, companies, case names, names of regulation and code sections, people's names, my name, my competitors etc?
- What do I use to get these RSS feeds? Are there desk top RSS readers? Are there web based RSS readers?
- How do I subscribe to searches at Google News, Google Blog Search, and Twitter Search?
- How do I build off the feeds LexBlog editors provide of A-list sources and A-list subjects.
- The next 90 days is focused on the use of RSS feeds to engage one's target audience.
- How do I reference something I found in a feed?
- How do I get the A-Listers to begin to follow my RSS feed and share with their followers who I am and what I am blogging about?
- How do I use RSS to build relationships with reporters, conference coordinators, and publishers so they quote me and invite me to speak at conferences?
- By linking out to what I find in RSS feeds how is that influencing my clients, prospective clients, and referral sources?
- The last 90 days is focused on social media.
- What exactly is social media? What does it matter in client development? What are the lynchpins in using social media?
- How do I use LinkedIn as a proactive client development tool and to further syndicate my blog copy?
- What is Twitter? How do I use it in a strategic way to engage others and build meaningful relationships?
- How can Facebook be used in a meaningful way?
- What other social media tools such as Friendfeed or Stumbleupon are worthwhile?
- What other places will display my blog content by syndication, whether it be the Wall Street Journal, JD Supra, Legal OnRamp, or whomever?
Boy that's a mouthful. But doing this for six years, that's what blogging effectively for the American lawyer means.
It's easy for a start-up burning through money without realizing a profit to poo-poo a company selling a “more-effective” blogging solution for thousands of dollars ($2,400) per year. What have they got to lose by jumping into blogs to earn a few dollars?
I know lawyers need a lot of support, encouragement and training. Blogging for client development by building relationships isn't the hardest thing in the world. But it takes time and work. Not every lawyer is up to the challenge. That's okay. We'll be here for the lawyers who are.
LexBlog provides some of the legal profession's snappiest looking blogs! If a solid, and professional, online presence is what your firm is looking for, LexBlog can provide that solution.
Kevin, you are truly one of the leaders in the legal technology industry. You are providing valuable services that are changing the profession. This new one year program sounds great!
I would encourage both seasoned and new legal professionals to check out some of the services you are offering. In a web 2.0 world (or 3.0?!), they can not afford to miss the opportunity to learn something from what you are doing.
Keep it up! Always excited to hear what LexBlog is up to next!