Blogs used for law firm ‘Mini-Web Sites’
Bob Ambrogi, Massachusetts lawyer, media consultant and publisher of the LawSites blog, has an excellent article at Law.com on Mini-Web Sites serving law firms on niche topics.
Packaging law is a niche in which various U.S. firms have carved out practices. But search the Internet for packaging law, and one firm stands out: Keller & Heckman.
The Washington, D.C. firm maintains a Web site devoted to the topic, PackagingLaw.com. It is what some would call a mini-site, separate and apart from the firm’s primary Web presence……Three years ago, law firm marketing consultants and Web designers were touting the benefits of mini-sites as vehicles to drive attention to a core practice area. Then along came blogs and a rapid shift in focus to their value as marketing tools. But as the above example and others demonstrate, mini-sites remain an effective means by which a firm can promote a key area of practice.
In fact, the way to achieve maximum benefit from a mini-site today may be to blend blogs into the mix along with other, more traditional, types of content.
No need to distinguish blogs and mini-sites Bob. Web sites on blog software can be produced and maintained at lower costs than with traditional web publishing tools. In addition, the content is served up on RSS, both for ease of use for subscribers and getting the content onto the large aggregators the media monitor for keywords and key phrases. (40% of journalists source blogs at least once a week)
Bob even mentions in the article, a prime example of a mini-site being Electronic Discovery Law, maintained by Preston Gates & Ellis as an adjunct to the firm’s primary site. Electronic Discovery Law is a blog done by LexBlog. It’s working on three fronts. One it is enhancing the firm’s reputation as leaders in the area. It’s generating work. And best of all, the lawyers are putting all the content in themselves, without an assist from marketing.
To meet law firm demands, LexBlog is now offering Blog Resource Centers. Look at the Hurricane Law Blog published by McGlinchey Stafford. Not only is there the usual blogged content, but there is also more content than you shake a stick at on hurricane related legislation, regulations and rulings from the federal government and four states. Word has it that the Hurricane Law blog has generated some good work for the firm. I think folks would be shocked at how inexpensive the Blog Resource Center was for the firm.
LexBlog has some other new products in the works to serve law firm niches. But the guys over in development and sales would kill me if I get that stuff out on the net now.
Source for post: The great Stark County Law Library Blog