Professionals who blog for client development are succeeding : New Survey

Professionals who blog to share their expertise and attract new clients for their business are succeeding in doing just that. This per a survey of over 2,900 bloggers commissioned by Technorati, an Internet search engine for searching blogs, and conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland.

• 71% have greater visibility in their industry.
• 63% said clients purchased products and services.
• 56% find they are regarded as a thought leader.
• 40% are asked to speak at conferences.

But it’s only 15% of ‘professional part-time’ bloggers who are blogging for financial gain, to share their expertise, or attract new clients for their business. 72% of bloggers are hobbyists who blog for fun or to express themselves. The remaining 13% are blogging full time for their own or another company.

No question the survey supports the proposition that lawyers who blog to enhance their reputation and grow their practice are likely to succeed. Of particular interest though is that almost five times as many bloggers blog not for client development, but as a hobby.

The hobbyist manner of blogging may well explain why some lawyers do not experience professional and business gains from blogging. While professionals blog primarily about about the topic of their blog and avoid personal musings, per the survey, that’s not the case for hobbyist bloggers.

The survey’s findings may be found in the PowerPoint of Technorati CEO, Richard Jalichandra, embedded in Michael Arrington’s post at TechCrunch. Jalichandra presented the findings at Blog World ’09 on Friday.