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6 reasons large law firm blogs beat law firm websites with RSS feeds

October 30, 2007

A few large law firms are starting to allow users to subscribe to articles via RSS feeds. This is a plus as no one is going to return to a firm website to see what’s new. In addition, we’re getting so much email, the last thing we need is an email alert/newsletter from a law firm.

But if these large law firms, and their web site providers truly understood how to harness RSS, they’d be using blogs to disseminate their content. Here’s a number of reasons.

  • Content on a website is much less likely than blog content to appear high in search engine results when relevant searches are performed by in-house counsel, exec’s, the media, and other interested parties.
  • Website content must be promoted. Word of a blog with valuable content spreads across the Internet by virtue of news sites and other blogs citing the content.
  • Website content is generally seen only by existing clients. Blogs, akin to an online magazine on a niche subject, are read by clients of other firms, lawyers at other firms, the media, and other bloggers.
  • Over 20% of senior exec’s in this country read one business blog a week and the number is growing. How many exec’s read law firm articles?
  • Measure of influence is quickly becoming of critical importance for web content by places like Google Blog Search. Influence is determined in large part by being cited by other blogs and news sites with RSS feeds. Law firm articles will not be cited.
  • Innovative companies, large law’s targeted clients see blogs as innovative. Law firm articles/alerts, whether including an RSS or not, are looked at as more of the same. ‘All law firms do that.’

Large law and their marketing consultants are often afraid of blogs. Usually because of ignorance of what blogs are, what they’re not, and how they are being used by innovative firms. The result is going half way, such as ‘RSS’ing the website,’ but in reality just falling further behind the curve.

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