Real Lawyers Have Blogs : Advice On Law Blogs and Social Media

Steve Rubel, SVP at Edelman Digital, might as well have been talking to law firms in his blog post about the end of destination websites.

For the last 15 years marketers lived like kings online. We built ornate palaces in homage to ourselves in the form of web sites and micro sites. Each acts as a destination that embodies our meticulous choice of aesthetics, content and activities.

We still put a lot of time, effort and money into erecting these palaces, much as Louis XIV did in planning Versailles. And, for the most part we have been rewarded handsomely for our efforts. For years consumers flocked to our sites, reveled in all we had to say, played with our toys and, sometimes, were motivated enough as a result to buy our stuff.

As Rubel rightfully points out, the destination web is drawing to a close.

People (rightfully) have reasoned that they too can be creators, not just consumers. Content choices became infinite and peers are trumping pros......In March the average American visited a mere 111 domains and 2,500 web pages, according to Nielsen Online. What's worse, our attention across these pages is highly fragmented. The average time spent per page is a mere 56 seconds. Portals and search engines dominate, capturing approximately 12 of the 75 hours spent online in March. However, people-powered sites like Wikipedia, Facebook and YouTube are not far behind, snagging nearly 4.5 hours of our monthly attention.

So what's the future for law firm Internet marketing? Per Rubel:

"Earned media" through direct public engagement in the venues where our consumers spend time will become the only way to truly influence a behavior change.

Engagement? That's interesting. Engagement is how good lawyers have traditionally grown their business.

By networking with clients, prospective clients, and their influencers (reporters, editors, conference coordinators, business associates etc.) a lawyer established their reputation as a reliable and trusted in a niche area of the law. This reputation spread by word of mouth.

Websites have never been the be all and end all of law firm Internet marketing. Good lawyers get their best work by networking through the Internet, not by building shrines to themselves in the form of websites.

This is the case for firms with 1,600 lawyers or 2 lawyers and for practice areas ranging from estate planning to personal injury. Being recognized as a reliable and trusted authority in your niche by engaging with your target audience on the Internet is what brings in the best work from the best clients.

Fortunately there's still time for you to get started with more effective Internet marketing. As Rubel says, 'The greatest advantages will go to the first movers who embrace this shift. It's not too late.'

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Steve Rubel posted this week an 'An All Too Convenient Truth: Many Marketers Pollute the Web.'

In honor of upcoming Earth Day, Steve points out that it's just not the environment that's filled with toxins. 'The all too convenient truth is that it's very easy for advertisers to pollute the web with their garbage.'

Lawyers, law firms, and legal internet marketing companies are among the worst polluters.

• Spam. I'm deluged with emails from people who have never read my blog asking me to exchange links with law sites and blog about legal stories, conferences, and products totally unrelated to what I blog about.
• Splogs. Blogs with gibberish law content or content stolen from legitimate law blogs are rampant. These blogs are supported by lawyers buying Google Adwords and SEO services setting up splogs to link to their unknowing law firm customer.
• SEO. Many lawyers are addicted to search engine rankings like crack cocaine. They get their fix from snake oil salespeople getting them unscrupulous links from link farms and spam blogs.
• Sponsored links. Bankruptcy, DUI, and personal injury lawyers pour money into Google Adwords leaving unseemly billboards all over Google and other sites that display ads.
• Companies selling exclusive blog territories to personal injury lawyers in return for 25% of the lawyer's fees.
• Legal directories providing 'blogs' to lawyers without disclosing that what is being provided is not a blog.
• Law firm website companies producing websites rivaling the worst on the net, but making sure the 800 number is an inch tall.
• Lawyer and client matching service misleading lawyers with promises of clients lined up for them.
• Personal injury lawyer blogs naming injury victims in hope the victim calls them or cutting and pasting news stories in entirety offering no value and violating copyright law.
• Banner ads. Many just litter the web and get in the way of what you want to do. Click-through rates remain abysmal. Eye-tracking studies have revealed 'banner blindness.'
• Video. Law firm videos about lawyer exploits and services offering nothing of value to potential clients produced by law firm website vendors looking for increased revenue.

As Steve says, 'The web is facing it's own global warming crisis as marketers continue to pollute it.' But he n that 'Consumers are voting with their clicks and eyeballs by engaging with authentic content thaotest adds value, while ignoring the rest. That's good news that shows maybe we'll solve this crisis...'

Though there's always going to be lawyers and legal vendors looking for the get rich schemes polluting the web, I'm seeing positive trends in the legal arena as well.

Many good lawyers who would shun unseemly net advertising are publishing blogs offering valuable info to the public and other lawyers. Consumers of legal services, whether they be corporate heads or consumers, are now looking for valuable legal information on the net.

Next Earth Day, may be we'll see a little less brown smoke and haze from lawyers on the net.

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Lawyers call me all the time wanting a blog for the sole reason of higher search engine rankings. 'I don't care what I have to pay you, I don't want to learn about blogging, and I don't have time to write blog posts, I just want to rank higher than my competitors.'

Though law blogs often rank higher on Google than websites, law blogs don't exist for SEO shenanigans. Law firm website developers and law firm 'SEO experts' who don't have a clue about blogs don't understand this.

Unfortnately, I'm seeing the same disturbing trend as Edelman Senior Vice President Steve Rubel.

Some respected experts are advocating launching social media marketing programs solely for the purpose of influencing search engines, rather than with the intent of fostering collaboration and genuine communication.

This represents a clear and present danger to the fabric of the community. If you care about the social web, then you should be alarmed.

Search engine optimization (SEO) professionals of late seem poised to take over blogs, digg, StumbleUpon and other sites with a range of tactics, some legit, others more questionable with the intent of building Google Juice and nothing more.

Steve goes on to explain that if you're using blogs appropriately, high rankings will follow anyway.

To be clear, I do not object to the way that blogs, digg links and Wikipedia rank highly in search results. What does get me hot and bothered is when consultants and bloggers propose launching such an initiatives solely for influencing search. SEO, like word of mouth, should be a byproduct outcome, not a primary objective. Any brand that plays in this space should be aiming to create value. Do that and the other stuff will follow.

The vast majority of LexBlog's 300 plus blogs rank near the top of Google for their area of law. That's happening as a result of good blogging and proper blog site architecture, not because of SEO shenanigans.

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Law firms are not the only ones who do not understand blogs are not some sort of mini website you're looking to fill up with legal information.

Blogger and journalist, Kristine Lowe, saw that BCC staffers kept fretting about filling a blog as if it were a blank page. She told them to stop looking at blogs that way and advised:

Find the conversation. Join in. Contribute to it - indeed, contribute journalism, answering questions, finding facts, fact-checking the ones that are there. But to do that - beware - you have to talk at a human level with other humans with opinions (who don't want to talk to a closed door).

To heck with the large law firm baggage that you can't enter into an online conversation. 'We'll take a position contrary to someone else in the firm. We cannot give legal advice. We cannot comment on what other lawyers are saying.' That's rubbish.

I've read law journal and bar publication articles. I've been at legal conferences and seminars. I've attended with other lawyers networking functions whether they be civic boards, rotary meetings, or cocktail receptions.

Lawyers converse at those functions. They offer opinions. They give views on where they think the law is heading. They point out pitfalls for the unwary. They respond to the views and questions of other lawyers.

Conversing is how we learn. It's how we network. It's how we grow as professionals. But for the conversing and networking I did as a young trial lawyer, I would not have been the skilled professional I was when hung up my lawyering shoes 9 years ago.

Kristine is saying the same thing as Steve Rubel who preaches - 'Find the conversation. Listen to the conversation. Engage in the conversation. Empower your audience by adding value to the conversation.'

Blogging is a conversation. Not only do you learn and grow your reputation by joining in, you will not be conspicuous by your absence.

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Generally, I wouldn't advise taking a look at a book billed as covering the 'world's top 30 bloggers.' A blogs import is determined by the value it offers its readers, whether their be 45,000 or 200 readers.

But reading the chapter on Steve Rubel in Blogging Heroes made me realize there's much to learn from those who have staked their livelihood to blogging. Like me, Steve put it all on the line back in 2003 believing that blogs were going to have a very big impact on business.

In all things it's good to have someone you can model yourself after in your effort to succeed. One of the guys I followed was Steve - still do. And reading the chapter on Steve this morning reminded me of my roots in blogging. Started to get my juices going. You can download the chapter here.

You could do a lot worse than Steve's keys in starting a new blog.

• If you want people to come to your blog, you must offer them something of value.
• Bloggers just starting out must post in high volume to build an audience.
• Sometimes it's easier to go where people are than to get them to come to you.
• With competition among news bloggers being so strong, and bloggers filling every available subject, the best option for new bloggers is to find a niche.

Steve also drives home a leading benefit of blogging. Learning. Learning is the primary reason Steve blogs. Having heard the same from Mark Cuban earlier this week, I realize it's the same for me.

Everything I have learned about Internet marketing, social media, blogs, and virtual communities, I've learned from others on the net. In the mid 90's it was through conferences, books, and the limited time I had to talk with authors and conference presenters. For the last 4 years it's been blogging - reading, networking, and writing. Blogging is learning on steroids.

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