Employment Law Memo : Success with blogs
Ross Runkel dropped me an email after reading my post about measuring the ROI of blogs. Ross is founder of LawMemo and Work Law Blogs, Professor of Law Emeritus at Willamette University College of Law and an employment arbitrator/mediator. LawMemo is a service providing current employment law and analysis to law firms and other organizations throughout the United States.
Because of what blogs have come to mean for his clients over the last 18 months, he now uses 7 separate blogs, six of which are integrated into his LawMemo web site.
- Four are niche blogs, with original content:
- Ross’ Employment Law Blog
- Ross’ Arbitration Blog
- Ross’ Reviews (Articles, books, courses)
- Employment Law 101 (30-some lessons) (posting dates omitted as irrelevant)
- NLRB Law Memo
- Arbitration Law Memo
Ross is convinced that most readers don’t know or don’t care whether web content is a “blog.” He’s also convinced that the blog model is excellent for some sections of the web site that need frequent updates, or lend themselves to a series of related pages. He’s a believer the blog model works fine for both original and repeat content.
As for blog ROI, Ross explains it’s hard to separate the returns that come from the blogging versus from traditional marketing and from just hanging in there. Anyhow, changes since blogging include:
- Web stats up ~ 50%/year
- Web views shifting toward blogs
- Frequent mention on other blogs
- The only non-Texan Speaking at Texas Bar Employment Section
- Media quotes up 150%
- Google ranking up
- Technorati ranking up
Best of all Ross says “My enjoyment level is greater when I write about what I know rather than try to rope in a new customer.” Hear. Hear.
As way of disclosure, Ross is not a client. I’ve had the pleasure of discussing blogs with him over the last 18 months and look forward to meeting him soon as he’s just down I-5 in Portland.