Should small law firms blog?
Bill Slawski, Director of Search Marketing at KeyRelevance, has a nice post at Search Engine Land asking ‘Should small businesses blog?‘ Thought it applied to you guys in smaller law firms.
If done correctly, Bill points out three benefits of blogging for small law firms.
- The chance for business owners to hold a conversation with potential clients, and with people who may be interested the services, or goods that the company offers as well as with people who may share similar interests.
- The opportunity to attract search engine traffic and links to your site.
- The chance to build a positive reputation on the web.
And Bill aint’t blowing smoke. Here’s the results for a small business client of his who started blogging.
- Repeated mentions in local newspapers and magazines
- Being profiled in national publications like USA Today
- Appearing as an example in a book on blogging as a way of enhancing a professional reputation
- Attracting business from local customers as well as national and international clients
- Providing rankings in search engines for a wide variety of keyword phrases ahead of firms with more than 300 members
- Engaging other practitioners in the same field to discuss and enter into consultation on a variety of topics
- People he networked with his blog suggested other services that he might provide to his clients
LexBlog and its law firm clients have had similar results. To be honest, I have to pinch myself sometimes to make sure the type of coverage we’re getting, the reputation enhancing we’re receiving, and the business we’re all getting from our blogging ain’t a dream.
And a huge byproduct of blogging mentioned by Bill is that through effective blogging you are monitoring conversaion in your niche and educating yourselves on where an industry, your target audience, is heading. This results in developing services prospective clients are looking for. “By engaging people in a conversation through a blog and listening to them, we were better able to meet their needs,” says Bill.
Blogs are called the great equalizer by a lot of small law firms. You can see why.