Real Lawyers Have Blogs : Law Blogs, Social Media, Twitter

We're always asked at LexBlog about putting a blog in a law firm website. The answer is you don't do it. Anyone telling you to do so is wrong.

Putting a blog your law firm's website makes as much sense as adopting law firm policies requiring that the firm's lawyers only speak at industry conferences held in your firm's conference room and that your firm's lawyers only be quoted in your firm's publications, as opposed to industry and widely read periodicals.

Here's 10 reasons why a law blog should be independent from a law firm website.

1. Your law firm website, as it should be, is overt marketing collateral. Your website is all about your law firm, your firm's lawyers, the services your law firm provides, who your law firm represents, and how we contact your law firm and its professionals. A blog is about providing valuable information, insight, and commentary to your target audience. Don't detract from the effective reputation enhancement, networking, and client development power of your law blog by making it part of your firm's overt marketing collateral.
2. Google is only going to display the most relevant content page from your law firm's website, it's not going to display 2 pages in the search results. Having a blog and website allows relevant content from each to display in Google search results.
3. Search engine optimization. Links from relevant websites or blogs to your firm's website or blog are critical for search engine performance. Blogs are link magnets. Websites are not. A blog inside your website is going to generate few, if any, incoming links. Not only will a well done blog perform exceedingly well in search engine results, but links to your website from the blog and links to your website as a result of blogging will dramatically improve your law firm's website search engine rankings.
4. Effective blogging is all about entering into a conversation with both thought leaders in your field and your target audience. How do you dialogue from your law firm's website? You don't. Step one in effective blogging is listening to what thought leaders are saying on their blogs, what they're saying in the media, and following key words and key phrases relevant to your niche in Google Blog Search and Google News. Referencing this content and offering your take is what you'll be doing in your law blog. Thought leaders, your target audience, and the media will then see your contributions to the conversation and begin to reference you. It's very, very hard for people to reference your blogging when you're wearing the trappings of a law firm website. We're just not inclined to do it.
5. Marketing success for your blog. The best way to get exposure for your law blog is to blog about what leading bloggers and reporters are writing about in your niche. They'll then see you, subscribe to your blog, and cite your blog posts with their commentary. The thousands of subscribers of these leaders will see your name and tacit reference to you as an authority. They'll subscribe to your blog, and those who blog will in turn reference you and your blog content on their blogs. You're not to garner these citations with a blog in your website.
6. Getting subscribers to your blog. Your target audience is looking for the context you can offer on subjects relevant to your niche. Your audience is not looking for overt marketing information. Blog subscribers want to see that you are first concerned about offering value to them. Placing a blog in a website shows you're too afraid to give without at the same time telling people about how wonderful you are and the wonderful things you've done. On the net, you can have everything you want as long as you help enough other people get what they want. Show it.
7. Public relations success. 75% of reporters use blogs to identify experts and gain insight on stories they're writing. Public relations is no longer about press releases. It's about demonstrating yourself as a thought leader by entering into a dialogue. You're much less likely to be called by reporters with a blog in a website that hamstrings open dialogue and reputation building.
8. Ease of use. An effective user interface for readers of a blog and a website are two different animals. Weaving the necessary navigation elements of a blog into your law firm's website is likely to lead to reader confusion.
9. Good design. Your law firm's website and blog should complement each other, not look the same. Your website is your overt marketing. Your blog is an educational magazine allowing you to enter into a dialogue.
10. Social media success. In addition to your content being cited on other blogs, blogging success comes from having your content cited on Twitter and social bookmarking websites. Content from a blog in your website is much less likely to be shared and spread via social media, if at all.

Putting a blog in your law firm may be the easy thing to do. You may have marketing or tech professionals telling you to do so.

But if your looking for your blog to enhance your reputation as a thought leader in your niche, to allow for networking among your target audience, and to serve as an effective client development tool, don't do it. Keep your blog outside your law firm website.

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Lawyers ask me all the time, 'blog or website?' I also hear 'I have a website, but it's not getting me any clients.'

From Darren Rowse at Problogger, with my added commentary, here's 6 reasons to replace a website with a blog.

1. Blogs give individuals, companies and brands 'voice.' Professional services providers, lawyers included, build their brand by getting out and talking - sharing their intellectual capital and showcasing their philosophy.
2. Blogs are conversational - both in the style of writing, the way they interact with one another and the way that they are designed with comments at their heart blogs are all about the conversation. Interaction also ensues from citing other thought leaders and them citing you.
3. Blogs build Trust - as a result of being a relational/conversational medium a blogger can build trust with their audience. Is there a profession that could benefit more from trust building than the law?
4. Blogs build profile - looking to become an 'expert' (or at least be perceived as an expert) in your field. Blogs have the ability to showcase your expertise and help you become the 'go to' person in your field. LexBlog's clients are seen as the 'go to' person on issues ranging from Connecticut Employment to California biotech law to Maryland IP law.
5. Blogs are immediate - blogs are a great way to communicate with people because they are so quick to use. Have a thought, write it down, hit publish and within minutes it can be being read and commented upon by your readers. Impossible with law firm newsletters and articles.
6. Blogs are a doorway to search engines and social media - one of the great things about blogs is that they are indexed so well by search engines which love sites that are focused upon a topic, updated regularly etc. Social media sites (particularly bookmarking ones) also love blogs.

Of course there's reasons a blog is not a right for everyone. Darren even goes through a number of them in his post.

And in the case of a large firm, or a firm with diverse practice areas, a niche focused blog cannot replace a law firm website.

But for solo's and small firms with a focused practice area, a blog has it all over a website.

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Immediate irrelevance. That's an accurate description of 90% plus of the video's law firms will run on their websites.

And that's not my characterization of law firm video. This from a marketing technology person at one of the largest firms in the country commenting on the mounting evidence that blogging really does work (nice coincidence).

As pressures increase, whether from competition or clients, the need to differentiate and offer value to clients becomes important. Rather than spending $75K on a video for your Web site, try a professional blog. Not only is it substantially less expensive, with one post per week it offers continuing relevancy.

A couple months ago Martindale-Hubbell and their public relations company, Ogilvy PR, announced Martindale's new video on law firm websites service saying in part:

Lawyers are increasingly embracing new ways to differentiate themselves and attract new business while consumers and small business professionals are eager to learn more about a lawyer or firm's philosophy and demeanor prior to hiring the firm.

Take a look at the video on this law firm website (believe its one of the Martindale ones). Does anyone really think a video of lawyers standing around talking at each other, a framed certificate of admission to the Supreme Court, what looks to be an yellow page ad, and some newspaper headlines is going to incent clients to call them?

Martindale is not alone in selling this type of video as 'Web 2.0' technology that law firms are ready for. Look at the video on this law firm website. The theory is that paying a few grand for a video of lawyers talking about the things they do in front of courthouse pillars gets people to stay on the website longer than another website that does not include video.

So what? People staying to watch a TV ad on the Internet. What's the value to prospective clients and people looking for legal information?

Video yes. But let's offer something of value. How about lawyers answering legal questions in their niche? What about doing that on a weekly basis? That's value. That's a real differentiator - lawyers showing they care by taking the time to help people for free.

Those type of video's will also have a viral marketing effect being talked about online, passed to friends, and even displayed on other websites and blogs if archived at YouTube.

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