July 24, 2008 by Rob La Gatta

BlogHer '08: blogging tips from Amy Gahran and Elise Bauer

Now that BlogHer '08 has come to an end, LexBlog's director of client services Stacey Merrick - who gave readers a brief update from the conference last Friday - is back in Seattle and sharing what she learned with the rest of us here at the company. While the conference itself wasn't geared at lawyers, Stacey returned with some material that's worth sharing with the legal blogging community.

On how frequently to post:

One of the main points she came away with was that bloggers should never burn themselves out from trying to do too much at once. Some folks post on a daily basis just for the sake of having something new for readers to see every day. This is a mistake, said former journalist Amy Gahran at her panel. She was among the many attendees who believed that successful bloggers post frequently, but not at the expense of quality.

"Amy brought up the issue quality versus quantity when writing a blog," Stacey says. "And quality is always more important. If you're blogging a lot but churning out a lot of garbage, the frequency of your posts won't be able to mask the fact that the content is still garbage."

On crafting effective blog posts:

"Remembering to think about how much time your audience is going to give you was another important point Amy made," says Stacey. "Amy stated the reading rate of an average person is between 200-300 words per minute," she reports. "On the Internet, people will give you maybe 1 minute – so catch their attention quickly."

Another presenter, Elise Bauer, designated three main components of good blog content: material must be useful, entertaining and timely. Shorter posts are easier to read than longer ones, Elise claimed, and should be accompanied by a well-written headline that accurately describes the content of the post.

There are a variety of posts that can be both brief and meet the criteria outlined above: top 10 lists, contests, how-tos, and even controversial stances can be beneficial to increasing readership. "As long as you're being authentic and showing a sense of humor (when appropriate), you're heading in the right direction."

On the value of online communities:

Both of these presenters, who spoke at different sessions, had plenty to say on the value of online communities. For Amy, use of the term "target audience" – heard so frequently in all corners of the blogosphere – is misleading and inappropriate for blogging. But what term does she prefer instead? " 'Core community,' " answers Stacey. "And it's true: you’re not just spewing content out at people...you’re joining in community discussion."

Elise is also an advocate of writing to your community: they're the group that keeps you nourished and supported, and are ultimately who will determine whether your blog succeeds or fails.

"Elise relayed a number of ways to get involved with your online community," Stacey says. "Being generous with the links you give out to other bloggers, leaving insightful comments on the blogs of people who comment on yours, and planning events that encourage community members to get involved – either online or in the real world – are all great ideas."
These tips may not be geared specifically at lawyers, but that doesn't mean they lack value for bloggers in the legal industry. In fact, many of these points are similar to what we advise attorneys when they ask us about increasing their blog's presence on the web.
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July 18, 2008 by Rob La Gatta

BlogHer '08: Ditch the legalese, says Kelly Phillips Erb

Stacey Merrick, LexBlog's Director of Client Services, is in San Francisco today and through the weekend attending BlogHer 2008, the annual conference for women who blog.

This morning, Stacey checked in and attended her first event - "What We Do: Taking Care of Business," which was hosted by lawyers Kelly Phillips Erb & Linsey Krolik and Palo Alto Software CEO Sabrina Parsons. After the panel, which focused on the business side of blogging and what that could mean for you as a blogger, Stacey had the chance to ask Kelly what it takes for a member of the legal community to write good posts.

According to Kelly, whose blog TaxGirl is one of the most well-respected tax blogs around, a major problem blogging lawyers face is their inability to remove themselves from the mentality of writing like a lawyer. Stacey reports:
She believes that writing how you talk is key to crafting good blog posts. No one talks using "ergo," "therefore" and that type of legalese. When she first started out, Kelly claims, her father made up the blog's entire audience. He would pose questions, and she would write posts as answers to those questions like she would answer them if the two were having a casual conversation.
Ultimately, Kelly stresses, blogging lawyers should remember who their audience is; after all, even other lawyers don't want to read legalese in a blog post.

This is a great point; too often we see lawyers who obviously understand the significance of a ruling or legal development but can't convey that significance without falling back on the terminology they've held with them since law school. Sure, old habits die hard...but when lawyers experiment with a conversational tone in their blogs, they are opening themselves up to a whole new audience that isn't necessarily limited to the legal community.
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