Just about every newspaper has incorporated bloggers into their online edition. Many are amateur journalists, as opposed reporters employed by the paper, who are blogging on matters of local interest. The bloggers are also often featured in the print edition of such papers
For example, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel urged its readers yesterday to check out their new community bloggers blogging on education issues. "The bloggers include teachers, students and parents, writing about any aspect of education that interests them."
These blogs are fertile ground for lawyer networking. They're a wonderful way for you to meet people in your community and for other people in your community to get to know you. They'll also find out you're a lawyer and the area in which you practice. When they or friend have a legal need, you may get a call.
How?
- Go to your newspaper's online edition and look for all the blogs. Do not limit your selection to blogs that look like they may be discussing issues relevant to your practice. Lawyers get divorce work from participation in civic boards where at the meetings the subject of divorce is never discussed.
- Set up an RSS feed to your newsreader for each of the blogs
- Put the RSS feeds in one folder in your newsreader marked [name of paper] blogs.
- Post comments on the blogs when you have an interest in the subject. Your comment will likely have nothing to do with your legal work. That's fine.
- Put your name, the url address for your blog, and your email address in the fields available accompanying your comment.
- Do not put your url, title, etc in the comment body itself. It will look like you are marketing your services and you will be disliked.
- Subscribe to additional comments by RSS or email, if the blog offers it, so you're kept aware of continuing discussion. Otherwise, check back in a day or two.
- The publishers of those blogs and their readers (there's often a ton of them) will see your comment and click on your name taking them to your blog. Curiosity will get them too click around your blog, in effect getting to know you and what you do.
- Make valuable comments and people will appreciate your contributions and the time you are giving. You may well be blogged about on one of these blogs or other readers' own blogs.
- Make sure you set up a Google Blog Search and Technorati search and accompanying RSS feed to your newsreader for your name, law firm name, and blog url. That way you'll know if others blog or write about you. Gives you the opportunity to comment at those blogs.
- You'll receive opportunities to meet others giving of themselves to your community. These folks are often the influencers in your community - the type who influence people's opinions about good lawyers.
Heck, it's a lot of fun and does not take near the time of networking in the offline world. What are you waiting for?
