Adding analysis is key to informative and original posts
Over the past few weeks I’ve monitored all of the LexBlog blogs done by family law lawyers. After doing so I passed along some tips on creating better blog posts. Since then, the results have been phenomenal. Before I get to the results, let me pass along the same advice I gave them.
First off, you don’t need to rely on original content alone. By original content, I mean posts written entirely from one’s own opinions. Michael Sherman’s series on divorce preparation provided great insight and topics for conversation but these longer and completely original entries can’t be expected for a majority of posts. When it comes to blogging, these articles without links to outside material aren’t the norm. They are by no means less informative or valuable but they are tougher to publish with consistency.
A majority of blog posts are short entries referencing material from other blogs or news sites. It’s important to write about what others are are writing about. If you reference another blog in an entry, it’s more likely the publisher of that blog will come to your site for future insight. Referencing popular news stories related to your field of law is also a good place for post ideas. However, there’s a little more to it than just pointing someone towards interesting information or displaying that information on your blog.
When you decide to reference another blog’s post or a story on a news site, be sure to offer up your own analysis of the situation. Instead of saying “here’s a link and an excerpt from this interesting news story,” post your opinion on the subject. Providing your analysis gives users something they can’t find in the original article or on the original blog post. Besides providing original content, your analysis and response is more likely to stir up debate and discussion. These posts don’t need to have long story summaries, lengthy excerpts and extensive analysis. They can be as short as a couple of paragraphs.
Keep it short and focused. Informative blog posts can be done in three paragraphs or less. One paragraph to introduce, summarize and link to the story.Then provide a paragraph-long excerpt summarizing the story or opinion. After that, add a few sentences with your opinion of the story. It’s a basic layout that can be used to generate posts in less than a half hour.
Within a day or so of me passing along these tips, Daniel Clement of New York Divorce Report published a strong example of a post with the characteristics I mentioned with his entry on a record divorce settlement. It’s not overly profound but it’s a great example of a basic informative post. On top of summarizing and quoting, Daniel included his opinion on the settlement. This is the key.
While the numbers may seem obscene, the result seems just. The reported facts reveal that the marriage was a true economic partnership. All of the wealth was created during the long term marriage through the joint efforts of the couple. It seems only fair that the marital property be divided equally. Quite frankly, even if the division of marital assets should not have been equal, would a 60-40 split of the nearly $400 million marital estate really made that much of a difference to these parties?
Summarizing and linking to a story doesn’t give readers any information they couldn’t already find on the the story you’re referencing. However, if you consistently offer up strong opinions on issues, it’s more likely readers will come back for your analysis and bloggers will cite your posts when looking for something to discuss. This all increases credibility and visibility for your blog. Who doesn’t want that?