Should a blogging lawyer care about SEO?

The Atlantic’s web audience has jumped from 500,000 to 13.4 million monthly visitors since taking down its paywall in early 2008. How so? Not because of SEO. The Atlantic’s online success has come from having insightful columnists and capitalizing on the importance of social networks and social media. This per Mashable’s Associate Editor, Lauren Indvik (@laureni), in a piece entitled, ‘Why The Atlantic No Longer Cares About SEO.’ From Scott Havens (@msh200), senior vice president of finance and digital operations at The Atlantic Media Company:

Sixteen months ago we received the same number of monthly referrals from search as social. Now 40% of traffic comes from social media. Truly [our writers] are not really thinking about SEO anymore. Now it’s about how we can spin a story so that it goes viral.

My blog generates about 40 to 50% of its traffic from social networks and social media. And the number is rising.

I find great comfort in this because that traffic is coming because some one those readers trust sent them to my blog. Trust is big for me – and it should be for you to as a lawyer looking to build relationships and a reputation.

Bob Cohn (@1bobcohn), editor of The Atlantic Digital, explains how short sighted writing for search alone can be.

Before, it seemed Demand Media was going to own the Internet by assigning stories based on search returns. It was a cynical approach to journalism. We’re no longer writing to get the attention of Google algorithms. We’re writing to get you to share it, to digg it.

So what type of headline do you write if you’re not wigged out about SEO? Per Cohn:

A great headline is just a great headline. It has to be clear; it has to be intelligent. We’re not writing for machines. We’re writing for humans.

Not so fast if you think you think this just means hiring legal marketing companies to push your content across social networks – and content they create for you so you don’t have to do something.

• The Atlantic works because they have qualified and insightful writers and columnists. The best one to write blog posts for you as a lawyer is you. You’ve been where the rubber meets the road on legal issues with real clients. You have the expertise. You have the care. You have the passion.
• When you write your own blog posts, it shows and you build trust. It’s trust more than anything else that fuels getting a blog post spread via social networks and social media.
• You need to understand how social networking and social media work. Blog posts don’t spread because you or someone you hire pushes them on your ‘targets.’ Blog posts spread because, by authentic use of social media, you have built up social media equity and trust. Others like and trust you enough to share your blog posts on social networks where they go, whether it be Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, or Facebook. It doesn’t matter if you are even there or spread your content in these places, others who trust and like you will spread your content to those who trust them.

There are no shortcuts. Money can’t buy you love on social media and social networks.

But that’s okay. Social media and social networking does not have to be that that hard. And it’s certainly not something you buy from marketers at a cost of a few thousand dollars a month.

Social media and social networking is the stuff we humans do. We engage each other. We learn. We share. We help each other out when we can. Keep these things in mind and you’ve mastered 90% of what you need to know as a lawyer about social media and social networking.

Also keep in mind it’s much easier being a person and talking with other people than trying to talk and write for Google algorithms. Trying to learn all I can about SEO gives me a headache. And from what I’ve seen, lawyers paying someone they hardly trust for something they don’t understand, gives lawyers a headache.

Funny thing is that I have always found Google rewards those bloggers who actually focus on quality, insight, engagement and giving of themselves.

My blog and the blogs on LexBlog’s LXBN Network rank higher than websites and blogs focused on search done by the likes of FindLaw, LexisNexis and other legal marketers who sell blogs to lawyers addicted to search for far greater prices than LexBlog’s.

Sure, care about search. But not as much as writing for people. People who have gained the trust of others are more important in getting your blog content in the right hands than Google and the search engines.

Try it. You’ll be surprised by what talking with and for people can do for you.