Law blogging without stats : Focus on the maximum, not the minimum
If there were no stats, how would law firms measure the success of their blogs? Quality of blog posts and business development success, I’d like to think.
Melissa Goldstein (@stirrupqueen), author and veteran blogger, in a post this week on blogging without stats, got me thinking about it.
Numbers dominate social media; rule it — more than quality content when we take things away from the personal. We are numerically-focused on how often we post. We consciously or unconsciously count up the number of comments, subscribers, daily readers. We are reminded of our number of followers or friends every time we log into Twitter or Facebook. And we internalize those numbers even when we don’t want to internalize those numbers. They mean something to us. They change how we view our space on the Web; especially when other people’s numbers are readily available for comparison.
Many LexBlog Network member law firms are fixated on stats. How many email subscribers do we have? How many RSS subscribers? How many unique visitors?
Trying to engage these law firms on the quality of their blog posts, the value being offered to readers, the unique voice of the lawyer author, or who they are strategically engaging is near impossible in face of stats. I can’t even get many firms to focus on increased business from blogging over stats – I’m serious.
But as Goldstein says, short of not installing blog metrics and staying off social media sites, it’s impossible in our number driven society not to know the numbers. “We always know the minimum amount even if we don’t always know the maximum.”
I tell LexBlog Network member lawyers to being blogging as if you have an audience of one – you. It’s okay, as unless you’re the exception, your worst blogging will come as you get started.
Gain your blogging voice. Have a conversation with the audience of professionals, business people, or consumers you are looking to reach and connect with via blogging. A conversation in the sense that you’ve listened to these folks’ questions in your practice and know what they’d like to learn or what they’re looking to have you share from your reading.
Be real and authentic. It’s you blogging, not someone else. Write in a dinner conversation tone. You are not writing an article, email newsletter, or alert. You’re blogging.
If you have focused on a good niche, one that you are passionate about and have been strategic with in regard to your business and publishing opportunity, you will have all the success in the world. You’ll have more readers than you can shake a stick at. Especially if you engage other thought leaders in your blogging and use other social media by sharing in a you first, me second, way.
I still tell our lawyers that if they listen to 70% of our advice, blogging will change their lives – professionally, financially, and personally.
Never would I focus on stats though. Otherwise I’d be focusing on the minimum, not the maximum from law blogging.