Hyperlocal law blogs offer lawyers big advantages
Following online publishing, it's becoming more and more clear that hyperlocal is the way things are going. Rather than trying to reach a broad geographic region, success is achieved by publishing relevant information to consumers and businesses in a smaller clearly defined locale.
Wikipedia defines Hyperlocal content, often referred to as hyperlocal news, as being characterized by three major elements.
- Refers to entities and events that are located within a well defined, community scale area.
- Intended primarily for consumption by residents of that area.
- Created by a resident of the location.
Hyperlocal means more than just publishing content for the locale. It means being part of the local community. It means engaging in other forms of social media being used by members of the locale. It means commenting on other blogs and news sites focused on the locale as well as engaging community members through Twitter and Facebook.
What a perfect scenario for a local law blog. Imagine a West Seattle Law Blog published by a general practice lawyer living in West Seattle. Better yet a West Seattle Family Law Blog.
West Seattle has a population of over 58,000. It has the widely read West Seattle Blog. Lots of people in West Seattle, like everywhere these days, are active on social media solutions such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.
Of course West Seattle doesn't have its own laws on divorce and family law matters. But do you honestly think publishing a blog on Washington Family Law is going to generate the warm and fuzzies with people in West and Seattle, the exact thing you need to demonstrate you're one of the local community?
- Publish matters of general family law. But give it a West Seattle conversational tone, telling stories, and giving answers based on questions you're getting from folks in West Seattle. Questions from clients and prospective clients.
- Comment on local blogs, using your own name, and when permitted by text fields, leave your business email and blog url. People are curious about who's commenting. They'll be pleasantly surprised to see a local West Seattle lawyer commenting on a blog post. Don't limit yourself to legal subjects. Be part of the local civic discussion, just as lawyers have done for a hundred years.
- Identify some of the mover and shakers from West Seattle using Twitter. Use advanced local search to see people Tweeting in West Seattle or to follow topics of local discussion. Get to know them by following them and sharing Tweets demonstrating not only knowledge of the law, but also demonstrating you're part of the local community.
- Look for local Facebook groups. Don't go in shouting I'm a lawyer. Look for groups in which you have a true interest in the subject. If you have kids, you're involved in soccer and there's likely a Facebook group for local soccer.
- As you get to know folks, host a small seminar or become part of a local support group. If a divorce lawyer, maybe it's a spousal abuse group. For a general practice lawyer, maybe it's on the issues to address in buying or selling a home or condo.
- Meet with local influencers for coffee. Use a blog and social media effectively for a year, and most people are going to know you.
Blogging is so much more than publishing content under a banner heading that covers an area of 4 million people (Seattle Divorce Law Blog). It's about engaging people you want to represent, your sources of referrals, and the people who influence them. It's about joining a local conversation. It's being a part of the community.
50 years ago a West Seattle lawyer could have a rewarding law practice, financially and personally fulfilling, by becoming a part of the West Seattle community. It's the same today. Just easier and faster.
Hi - we're honored you mentioned us. It's an interesting topic.
For anyone who hadn't heard of us, I do want to clarify, we are a news site, NOT a "blog." The one thing that people don't bring up often enough is that "blog" is really only a publishing format. The word unfortunately has been devalued and trashed and tends to signify "amateur" in the mind of people who are not familiar with the site in question.
We only have "blog" in our name because we started this as a sideline site two years ago, with NO idea it would become the first local 24/7 community news service, and have become so well-known locally by the name that changing it is not particularly feasible at the moment. But it is a professional, commercial, journalist-run, community-collaborative news service.
We call it a service, not a website, because web is just one of our content channels - we spend a lot of time also interacting on Facebook and Twitter and via e-mail (as well as by phone! with a 24/7 line), not just to send out our links, which would be pretty rude if we didn't do anything else, but also to converse about the community, answer questions, get story tips, etc.
Would love to see a West Seattle law "blog" - we have a Blogs page that takes RSS feeds from 100 blog-format sites around West Seattle and would certainly feature it there, so if someone starts one, let us know -- once you've been doing it for a few weeks and have some content built up! Good luck to all -- Tracy at WSB
Thanks for the comment Tracy and keep up the great work at WSB.
I'd love to see a West Seattle Law Blog too. One big advantage for the lawyer doing such a blog would be commenting on the news you are sharing and probably serving as a source of legal news you'd share on your blog.
Great topic, Kevin! I run into this issue all the time with both online and offline marketing. The lawyers at my law firm seem fixated on getting the broadest appeal or most views with our advertising and communications. They view that as the biggest bang for our money. I think that without an interactive element to our marketing though, that broadest appeal does nothing.
Kevin:
As usual, your thoughtful posts accurately describe what's going on out there in towns, villages, cities, even states, across the country. Marketing and delivery of legal services is currently in an absolute revolution. I believe that's true both in BigLaw, and for the smaller general practitioners.
My firm's site is attempting to "brand" our name and services, as well as capitalize on the "hyper-local" business model you describe. I'd be very interested in what you think of our on-line presence.
Thanks for the comment Kate. Lawyers are funny that way, wanting to get the broadest audience possible without giving any thought to where their bread is buttered. Law is generally local or regional, you reprsent clients in your neck of the woods. Focus on those people and demonstrate you care and are uniquely qualified help in a way that lawyers outside your area cannot can be a key to real success.
Clarkston Legal is a good idea Tim. But the first that strikes me when looking at your website and blogs is that the sites have not been optimized to be found by the locals. You need to use title tags that properly index your content at Google. Unfortunately that's something most law firms don't understand. If you'd like to find out what I mean and how to correct the title tags, give me a call.