1. Decide why you're starting a legal blog--Is it to generate new business, establish your expertise in a particular area of practice, provide you with a web presence and/or more visibility, or is it simply an outlet that allows you to express yourself?
2. Determine who your target readers are--Are they potential clients, lawyers who practice in the same area of law as you do, lawyers located in the same geographic area as you or some other type of professional?  This will help craft your content.
3. Create a blogroll--Your blogroll should serve two purposes: it should assist your readers in locating interesting content and it should alert other bloggers to your newfound blog's existence. Send an email to the bloggers on your blogroll and let them know that because you enjoy their blog, you've added it to your blogroll--and a reciprocal link would be greatly appreciated, but is certainly not necessary.
4. Consider adding a link to Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground--This blog is a high traffic blog and he regularly acknowledges those blogs that have linked to his own.
5. Make sure that Tom Mighell is aware of your blog--Drop him an email so that he knows that your blog exists.  His well known blog, Inter Alia, regularly features new legal blogs, and by letting him know about yours, he may mention your new blog more quickly.
6. Add your blog the legal blog directories listed on Nicole's blog.
7. Submit blog posts to Blawg Review--Each week Blawg Review features blawg content from the past week. Consider signing up to host Blawg Review.
8. Read Kevin O'Keefe's blog--His business is law blogs, and his blog always provides helpful tips for both new and experienced bloggers.
9. Regularly link to other blogs in your posts--Other bloggers will notice and appreciate it, and may reciprocate in kind.
10. Submit relevant comments to law blogs somewhat similar to your own--Make sure that your name is linked to your blog, so that anyone who clicks on it will be directed to your blog.

An example this morning is Portland's David Rossmiller from the Insurance Coverage Law Blog posting as a guest blogger to Point of Law, published by the Manhattan Institute and American Enterprise Institute.

I'm reminded that I overlooked an important detail yesterday: to mention who I am and why you suddenly see a new name posting in this space. I am an insurance law litigator at the Dunn Carney firm in Portland, Oregon, and I am guest blogging for Walter Olson, [commentator, author, critic, and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute]. Frequent readers may have seen Walter and [Ted Frank, Director, American Enterprise Institute Liability Project] link to my posts at my own blog, Insurance Coverage Law Blog, where I have been neck-deep in analyzing Hurricane Katrina insurance litigation for many months. Now, I have been a blog reader myself for a long time, much longer than the 18 months I've been blogging, and I know that regular readers of a site usually are ambivalent about guest bloggers -- blogging is pretty idiosyncratic and you can't just plug in someone who is equivalent, especially to someone the caliber of Walter. So instead of trying to be Walter I will just be myself, while attempting to uphold the high standards of Walter and Ted.

Point of Law is a very well read blog with its bloggers being a who's who of leading lawyers and law professors. I suspect David was asked to participate as a result of his writing on his own Insurance Coverage Law Blog about posts at Point of Law. By virtue of RSS, the guys at Point of Law saw David writing about them and began following David's blog. The result was citing David's blog, a great thing in itself, and now an invite to be a guest blogger.

Even if not asked, don't be afraid to ask about being a guest poster on another blog. Sure, you'll need to have been blogging a bit, know what you're doing when it comes to blogging, and have something valuable to say. But even the best bloggers need time away and a fresh face now and again. You may be helping out a prominent blogger and yourself at the same time.

Look at Australia's Darren Rowse at Pro Blogger. He's one of the most prominent bloggers on the net. Darren regularly has guest bloggers. As a subscriber to Darren's blog I enjoy those guest posts. Plus Darren travels a fair amount and needs that fresh content. A win all the way around.

Rich Brooks shares that the leading bloggers at the recent Blog World Expo spend spend almost half of their blogging time 'off blog', meaning commenting and doing other related tasks.

The blogosphere--the unfortunate name for the world of blogs--is a giant network. Or, it's a series of interconnected smaller networks, depending on your perspective. Like any network, it becomes more powerful with every new connection and every new person who joins it.

When you leave comments on other blogs, you're not only increasing that blog's ecosystem, you're building your own.

.....

The more intelligent, relevant comments you leave, the more connections you make back to your own blog. Each comment creates a hyperlink back to your own site or blog. Although there really isn't a search engine benefit to these comment links, other readers of the blog will see your comments and may follow the link back to your blog to see what else you have to say. Also, the blog owner might take notice and feature your blog in an upcoming post if it's relevant.

When referencing other blog posts in your own blogging, use a portion of your post as a comment on the other blog. That way you get the benefit of content on your own blog as well as interacting with others on the blogosphere.

She had read my post regarding how lame lawyers are when they send a press release about their blog. She said she wanted to avoid being a lame corporate consultant by sending a press release about her new blog site. And though I hear you're lame if you even use the word 'lame,' no one wants to be lame.

Best way to get bloggers to write about you and your blog is to write about them. Don't mean that in a vain way. But referencing other blogger's content in your blog posts demonstrates that your interests are relevant to theirs. If you are sharing content from one of my posts with your blog's readers, then I know you find some of the things I write about to be of value to your audience. I know our interests at least intersect.

Whereas an email with a press release announcing your blog tells me nothing other than you're starved for attention and aren't sure how to get it. In addition, good chance the press release doesn't demonstrate that our interests are similar. Certainly does not show that you have read my blog - something that I'd at least like to see. Such an email will be deleted with all the other spam I get from people thinking I'll blog about them - even if your blog is a good one.

There's no chance good bloggers will not know when you have referenced one of their posts in your blog. We each monitor our own name, our blog's name, and our blog's url via Google Blog Search and Technorati. Your post will show up in our RSS newsreaders immediately. And good things come from that.

We'll often subscribe to blogs who have written about our content. The reason is that you may publish a blog post that may be of interest to our readers. We'll then be blogging about you and one your posts to all of our readers. And that's what you're looking for - by citing you we are tacitly endorsing you as a reliable and trusted authority in your niche.

Blogs are a discussion where people are networking. You enter into the discussion by listening to what others with similar interests are saying in their blogs. You then engage in that discussion by referencing what is being said, via a block quote from another blog, and adding your take. You may even post a comment on the other blog itself (another good way of marketing your blog). But just like engaging in a networking discussion at a rotary meeting, you don't enter the discussion by firing off a press release to the crowd.

Like networking, the impact of your blog and what is does to enhance your reputation grows with time. Blogs are not a big splash, one time kind of thing. That's the world of press releases.

Call, write or email clients and prospective clients asking them to subscribe. Mention your blog to them when you see them in person or are talking to them by phone. Politely work it into the conversation of course.

For lawyers, asking someone to subscribe to your blog is not solicitation. Solicitation means contacting a prospective client and asking them to hire you for a pending matter. For non-lawyer readers, solicitation is a legal ethics violation.

<h3>How do you ask?</h3>

When you talk with prospective clients on the phone or in person, whether it be socially or a conference, let them know now you've created a blog which people in their shoes have found most informative. Ask if you can get their email so you can add it to your blog subscriptions. Explain they may later opt out if they wish to subscribe by RSS or that find your blog's not for them.

Sometimes you'll know your exact audience. Perhaps you've got a blog covering election law issues for the largest political action committees. Call or write the leaders of these organizations and ask them to subscribe by RSS or email. I was talking to one client recently who is going to have a blog on a topic of interest to the corporate/municipal council for cities and townships throughout their state. I am suggesting that they let those council know of the blog and to subscribe to same.

When speaking at a continuing education program or industry event, ask people to provide their emails on a sign up sheet or to toss their business cards in a bowl. You'll then subscribe them by email to your blog. Of course also let them know a copy of your presentation may be downloaded their.

<h3>You are offering something of value.</h3>

• Few lawyers stay on top of a niche topic like you.
• Even fewer are monitoring RSS feeds for information on the topic.
• There's a strong likelihood no law firm is blogging the topic.
• Your blog is not a treatise but it is an intelligence agent on the niche topic your prospects need to stay on top of.
• Your prospects' interests, and even jobs in the case of in-house counsel, are at risk if they do not stay up to speed on the topic.

Be proud of your blog. Posting an entry once or twice a week to share what you think may be of interest to your target audience is good stuff. The people you ask to subscribe will not bite. They'll thank you.