• Suggestions on starting an internal blog?: Toronto practice support lawyer Kathleen Hogan reaches out for tips on starting up a blog for her firm or practice group.
• Are legal Q&A sites effective?: San Francisco marketing & PR manager Lisha Fabris asks how well legal Q&A sites bring in business and referrals in today's internet.
• What is the best way to avoid information overload?: UK management consultant James Dunning wonders how to manage the volume of information coming at him and still make time for blogging.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• How NOT to keyword optimize: Los Angeles civil litigation & trial attorney Aaron Morris gives an example of keyword linking gone terribly awry.
• Google Blogger or Wordpress?: Idaho trial attorney John Kormanik asks what platform he should use to start blogging.
• Share some mistakes and what you've learned: This is a great topic, and has generated dozens of comments. New York personal injury attorney Lawrence Berezin asks what mistakes bloggers have made and what they have taken from them.
• Networking: are you a giver or a taker?: Attorney marketing specialist Brian French discusses the reciprocity of social networking.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

Thank you to all the members of the LinkedIn legal blogging group who attended today's webinar on "Networking through the Internet: Using Law Blogs to Enhance Your Reputation & Get Business" with LexBlog CEO Kevin O'Keefe and VP of Client Development Kevin McKeown.

For those who were unable to attend, you can download the PowerPoint presentation.

Among the topics covered included:

• The growth of law blogs in the legal profession.
• Who is reading law blogs & why you should care.
• Which law firms are publishing blogs?
• What is a professional blog?
• What do they look like?
• What are the key elements of a good blog?
• Advantages of law blogs for reputation enhancement & client
• development.
• Where do you begin?
• How to blog effectively.
• How to network with other thought leaders, the media, and conference
• coordinators.

As mentioned in the webinar, if you are interested in a personalized webinar with you or your firm, don't hesitate to contact Kevin O'Keefe (kevin@lexblog.com) or Kevin McKeown (kmckeown@lexblog.com), or call LexBlog at 206-340-8201.

• What can I do to take blog to the next level?: Los Angeles HOA attorney Robert DiNichilo polls the group for advice, a month after launching his blog.
• Do any of my fellow legal bloggers publish more than one blog?: New York attorney and business advisor Lawrence Berezin asks for insight on maintaining a high quality while publishing to more than one blog.
• Yellow Page Advertising: Attorney and website marketing company owner Dan Goldstein asks if group members are dropping their yellow page advertising in favor of online ads.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• Lost in the blog world: what to do?: Los Angeles estate planning & elder law attorney and director of Client Relations Elizabeth Meehan asks several questions about the purpose of blog, frequency of posting, and what makes a blog good. There are 22 comments on this post already, clearly a hot issue for group members.
• My blogging has dropped off since...: Seattle law firm accounting manager Robert Wood confesses how his Twitter addiction is affecting his blogging. This is another fascinating thread with plenty of members admitting their own Twitter "problems."
• Twitter privacy issues: Switzerland trademark attorney Alfred Strahlberg raises the question of privacy and Twitter.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• Can social networking help attorneys get better results for their clients?: Marketing specialist at LexisNexis David Knott addresses the Martindale Hubbell Connected debate.
• Do third-party ads belong on law blogs?: Chicago law blog consultant Amy Derby weighs the pros and cons on ads on a blog.
• Quantity vs. quality: Boston jury behavior expert Edward Schwartz addresses a perpetual concern of bloggers.
• How can bloggers/communicators help rescue the economy?: Washington D.C. Knowledge Management Lead Neil Olonoff asks how the sharing of information by bloggers and media members can help the financial crisis.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• Feedback and more feedback: Montana personal injury attorney Solomon Neuhardt and Los Angeles real estate lawyer Robert DeNichilo both ask for feedback on their new sites.
• How long have you been blogging?: Chicago technology paralegal Geroge Weinert V asks around at how long folks have been blogging. Some of the responses are pretty surprising.
• What does "social networking" mean to you?: London consultant Penny Edwards polls the group on how they use social networking in their law practices.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• A different type of legal blog, Practicing Law Sucks: Los Angeles business coach Jerome Bame shares his new blog devoted to "relieving the pain and suffering of lawyers."
• What luxuries or name-brand items are you refusing to give up?: North Carolina attorney Donna Ray (Berkelhammer) Chmura asks for feedback on what lawyers just can't part with, despite any economy-related cutbacks.
• Syndicating your blog: any legal issues?: Houston web developer Greg Davis asks if there are other legal issues to be aware of when syndicating blog content besides the standard copyright issues and privacy concerns.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• Creating a law firm website: Washington D.C. international arbitration attorney Charbel Moarbes asks for suggestions and advice about webhosting, design and pricing for a new law firm website.
• Importing legal blogs: NYC-area securities and broker-dealer attorney Mark Astarita seeks others' thoughts on general legal web sites importing the full text of legal blog posts without consent from the author.
• The Best Third-Party IM contest: Bulgaria software company CEO Stefan Chekanov shares the results of a poll on software that can access and manage different/multiple messaging clients.

Go to LinkedIn to read more discussions, or to add your voice to the conversation.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• Just starting out on Wordpress: Business development director Eric Pursch wants to switch over from Blogger, and asks the group for some advice.
• Need some new feeds: Seattle-based accounting manager Richard Wood reaches out for tips on good blogs on commercial real estate, employment law and environmental legislation.
• How much can you make from ads on a niche blog?: New York-based general counsel consultant Rees Morrison inquires about the ins and outs of advertising on a blog.

Go to LinkedIn to read more discussions, or to add your voice to the conversation.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• Need help deciding on a website look: Denver attorney Elizabeth Lewis asks group members for their opinions on two possible designs for her website and gets ample feedback.
• Who's using Twitter with your blog?: Buffalo insurance coverage attorney Roy Mura asks if and how group members are using Twitter in their blogging. Many have chimed in with examples here, using Twitter to direct traffic to their blog, increase their Internet profile and "as a placeholder for post ideas and cases I want to post about later."
• How would a law firm use Twitter?: An older post by Cincinnati real estate attorney Brad Kaplan gets some new attention as group members debate forms of internal and external communication for law firms.

Go to LinkedIn to read more discussions, or to add your voice to the conversation.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• How to get comments: London solicitor Shireen Smith asks for advice on how to boost reader presence on her IP Brands Blog.
• Wait! Blogging Works!: Chicago attorney Mark Herrmann's posted a discussion topic last week on blogging as a tool for business development, referencing a Drug and Device Law blog post on the same. After much discussion and debate in the blogosphere, he follows up (and clarifies) with a new discussion topic and corresponding blog post.
• Subscribing to blogs: North Carolina attorney Donna Ray (Berkelhammer) Chmura asks the group for help with feeds; bloggers weigh in with their preferences.

Go to LinkedIn to read more discussions, or to add your voice to the conversation.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

• Wordpress vs. Blogger: Richard Wood, an accounting manager in Seattle, asks which is better. (For more about blogging platforms, including LexBlog, check out this earlier discussion).
• Tweet On the Go!: Wood and others debate the best mobile applications for Twitter.
• Blogging for Business Development: Chicago attorney Mark Herrmann asks for feedback on his blog post about blogging as a tool for developing legal business.
• Using Multiple Sites: Iowa civil rights lawyer Victoria Herring asks "If you use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., have several blogs and websites [professional and personal], what do you do to keep them up-to-date efficiently and effectively?"

Go to LinkedIn to read more discussions, or to add your voice to the conversation.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

Attorney Alan Sherman responded:

"[I]f you have multiple blogs, you should consider cross-referencing each blog to the other one. A good place to do that would be in the "About" section where you describe the scope of your practice. In any case, the correct number of blogs for you is the number you can keep updated on a reasonably frequent basis and still make a living from your law practice."

Attorney Daniel Jaffe adds:

"I think you have too many blogs when your content is duplicated, but I don't think you would be out of line to have one for each of your two areas of focus. I think it's best to start with one area first, get good at it, and then start on the 2nd one."

Check out the discussion on LinkedIn to read more or add your voice to the conversation.

Kevin O'Keefe is the moderator of the Legal Blogging group on LinkedIn. If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join the discussions or start your own. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

Here's a topic over at the Legal Blogging group that Kevin has blogged about in the past, one that continues to be relevant as more lawyers and professionals expand their online presences: How to get the most out of Facebook.

Like publicity, any social networking is good social networking. But is Facebook a worthwhile time and energy investment to get business or drive blog traffic? Or is it still primarily, as one group member questioned, a "cyber-leisure spot"?

If you're already a member of the Legal Blogging group, join that discussion. If you're not yet a member of the group, you can request to join.

This Friday, LinkedIn will be adding several much-requested features to LinkedIn groups which I'll be activating for our group.

• Discussion forums: Simple discussion spaces for members.
• Enhanced roster: Searchable list of group members.
• Digest emails: Daily or weekly digests of new discussion topics which members may choose to receive.
• Group home page: A private space for members.

With these new features, expect more communication, collaboration, networking, and educational opportunities.

Just go to the Legal Blogging Group page to sign up. We'll leave the lights on for you.

If you requested to join over the last couple weeks, there may have been some delay in approving your request. LinkedIn was making some improvements to the group management tools and experienced a few bugs.

The new tools should allow me to better serve group members. I'm also told we're going to see 'home pages for group members' and some other group collaboration features in the coming weeks.

In addition to LinkedIn working on group features, I'm working on ways to make the group more of a learning and collaborative experience for legal professionals who desire to learn more about legal blogging. And that's for those of you new to blogs and legal blogging veterans.

• Personally, I'm available to anyone who may has questions or concerns on blogging as a lawyer or law firm. Working on law blogs and blogging myself for almost 5 years, I may have some answers or even some past blog posts of assistance (over 4,000 blog posts at Real Lawyers Have Blogs).
• We'll have free monthly webinars covering various legal blogging issues. I'll be conducting some webinars on my own and on others we'll have guests. We'll email you with an invite in advance. The first Webinar was last week and was attended by close to 100 folks. A recording and powerpoint of the 'Intro to Law Blogs : What Works and What Doesn't' webinar is available here.

The webinars serve not only as an educational opportunity, but permit some collaboration as attendees have the opportunity to ask questions. This generates discussion with the host and guests leading to further questions from other attendees.

Our Legal Blogging Group is just in its infancy. Expect more in the way of features and collaboration tools.

Want to join? Go to this page and send in your request. Not to worry, you don't nee to have a blog and there is no secret handshake to gain admission.

If you're a lawyer, legal marketing professional, librarian, legal assistant, law firm administrator, law student, or professional serving the legal profession, you'll get in. We have members from around the world and from all walks of life, including, but not limited to, managing partners from the largest law firms, in-house counsel, law professors, legal publishers, and aspiring lawyers in college.

We've been getting questions from folks wondering whether the webinar was limited to just members of the Legal Blogging group. It's not; anyone can register to attend by clicking here.

Among the topics we'll discuss:

• What professional marketing blogs are
• Advantages of law blogs for law firms
• What are the challenges in law firms use of blogs?
• How law firms are using law blogs
• Which law firms are using blogs?
• How much time does blog publishing take?
• Liability and ethical issues
• Law firm blog policies
• Getting law firm management buy in for blogs
• Alternative blog publishing systems
• Resources for blog information
• Your questions

Though those individuals already publishing blogs might find this presentation too basic, people still new to blogs should find the event informative. We hope to see you there.

I fell off the horse of getting group applications processed in a day or two and all of a sudden I'm staring at 60 plus requests. I guess that's a good problem with this group now approaching a thousand in number.

Not to worry about getting into the group. There's not a secret password nor handshake needed to obtain entrance. Anyone with an interest in legal blogging, usually as demonstrated by their profile, meets the criteria. You need not be a lawyer nor a blogger to gain admission.

The reason LinkedIn requires the application process is to eliminate people who may be looking to gain admission to the group solely to spam members with product or service offerings. Those folks tend to give themselves away with LinkedIn profiles displaying 85 LinkedIn group memberships, all reflecting different interests, or by bragging that they have more LinkedIn connections than anyone in the world.

I am still working on ways to allow members of the group to collaborate with each other. So is LinkedIn.

In the interim, members of the group have the ability to network with other members of the group, a pretty diverse and International group of lawyers and other legal professionals. There's quite a few lawyers in leading law firms as well as in-house counsel in various organizations. The vast majority of members are not blogging, but are using the group to learn about blogging.

Click here to join the group. I'll receive and approve your request.

• What are professional marketing blogs?
• Advantages of blogs for law firms
• Challenges of blogs
• Alternatives for setting up and running a blog
• How much time it takes
• Legal liability and ethics issues
• Getting firm management buy in for blogs
• Which law firms are using marketing blogs
• Your questions

Not to worry if you can't make it. We'll record the webinar and make it freely available with accompanying screenshots and online demos. You may also contact me and I can arrange another webinar at a time convenient for you.

I realize some of you may already be publishing your own blog, in which case the webinar may be too basic. But those still new to blogs should find the program helpful.

If you want to join the Legal Blogging Group at LinkedIn, click here. I'll receive and approve your request.