So You Want to Start a Law Blog?
Traditional search engine marketing (paid advertising + natural optimization) are two important parts of an effective website marketing campaign. Another highly effective method is the weblog aka “blog” or, in legal circles, I’ve heard “blawgs” used lately.
Writing a legal blog about your firm’s specialty area of practice is a good idea for a number of reasons. First, it allows a quick and easy way for non-technical partners and personnel to enter relevant, up to date opinions and information to educate clients. Next, it can significantly increase your firm’s online presence; blogs are monitored closely by consumers and search engine spiders, so a blog is often an easier way to get noticed in the search engine results pages than traditional SEO methods. Finally, blogs allow Internet users to enter their own comments and easily associate your articles with other authorities on the subject… and an engaged visitor is one more likely to remeber your message and, perhaps, become a client.
If you’ve decided that your legal practice would benefit from publishing a law blog, the first natural question would be, “Ok, how do I set one up?” There are three feasible options for most legal firms: 1) hire an outside company to set up your blog, apart from your existing website; 2) use your existing technology personnel (or company) to integrate a blog into your existing website; or 3) set up a blog using a third party service like Blogger.com.
Hiring an outside company to set up your legal blog - there are a number of firms you can find online that can provide a blog to you on a fee per service basis. They will set up a stand alone blog for you and just tell you where to log in or, more likely, the blog will be packaged with part of a larger marketing package they wish you to purchase. Prices vary widely for these services so beware… get multiple quotes and go with a company you’re comfortable with. If they’re trying to sell you way more than you need or charge strange fees, trust your instincts. Another word of advice (and a segue to the next bullet points): go with a company that will willingly work with whatever website hosting/technology provider you’re currently using. A blog should be an integral part of your practice’s larger web strategy.
Using existing resources to implement - or, finding a 3rd party to work with your existing providers - this is usually the best idea. You want to make the blog a natural extension of your established website or, if your website is new, it needs to merge seamlessly with your graphic design and marketing message. Things as simple as matching fonts and colors do matter. What’s great is that this ultimately allows for the greatest flexibility and can be done for little or no cost. Talk to your current webhost or website management group. Ask them about blogging. It may surprise you that you can have your blog set up for no cost at all using open source software like WordPress. (Which, trust me, is very easy for tech personnel to set up… so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.) Since WordPress is what we use at CaseDetails, and what I feel is the best way to publish and market your law blog, I’ll have a number of articles in the future on using WordPress for online legal marketing.
Use third party like Blogger.com - there are definitely advantages of using Blogger.com or another turn-key blog system. First of all, it’s free. Second of all, it’s easy. Third, the blogs there do get spidered and, therefore, indexed in search engine results pages quite well. But you do give up a lot of the flexibility in layout and integration that you get with the first two options. The good news is that if you start on Blogger.com, programs like WordPress have built-in utilities to import existing posts from your old site.
Make the choice to start your specialty blog, then decide how you’re going to get it online. Once these two decisions are made, the rest is a matter of doing what you do best: talk/write about your favorite area of practice!
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