Launching an Attorney Blog - Strategic Considerations
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by Brandon Cornett
What do you need when launching an attorney blog of your own? Well, lots of things really. The necessary "ingredients" will vary from one blogger to the next. In fact, entire books have been written on the subject of launching and maintaining a blog.
So instead of rehashing what's been written before, I'll offer what I feel are the five most important considerations when starting an attorney or law firm blog.
The 5 P's of an Attorney Blog
- Program
- Purpose
- Person
- Passion
- Persistence
P-1: The Program
Before you can start growing your attorney blog, you obviously need to choose a blogging program. These are the all-inclusive systems that will power your blog. The three most popular programs are Blogger, WordPress and TypePad.
Some companies with big IT departments actually create their own blogging programs, but in my opinion this is often a waste of time and money. WordPress, for one, can be customized and configured to support any business blogging objective. So why reinvent the wheel?
All three of the programs mentioned above can support a law firm or attorney blog, but they do have their advantages and disadvantages. My advice is to experiment with each one before making a decision. It's also wise to talk to an experienced blogger who has used more than one program. He or she can help you understand the pros and cons of popular blogging programs.
Note: For what it's worth, we use Blogger and WordPress exclusively when creating blogs for our clients. While they offer different features, both of these programs have served us well for many years. If you need help choosing, customizing or launching your blog, please consider our blog setup services.
P-2: The Purpose
What are your blogging goals? What do you hope to achieve as a result of your blogging efforts? How will your attorney blog support your marketing and communications goals?
You should answer these questions before you start blogging. It's much easier to give a blog shape when you know the blog's mission. Clearly define the purpose of your attorney blog, and then put that purpose in writing. You might even have a multi-purpose blog that supports several objectives. That's fine too, as long as you define that purpose.
Example of a Blogging Purpose
You will better understand what I mean by blogging purpose once you see an example. So here's the purpose of my own blog:
The purpose of the Web Smart Lawyer blog is to teach attorneys and law firms about the many aspects of Internet marketing. On our lawyer marketing blog, each post serves as an individual lesson — how to publish a press release online, how to write an effective blog post, how to get more leads from your website, etc.
You can see that my blog's purpose is clearly defined and specific. This makes my blogging duties much easier, and it will do the same for you.
P-3: The Person
Who will publish your blog? Will you have one author or several authors? Will you write the blog's content yourself or delegate it to someone else within your firm? These questions all fall under the "Person" factor — the third of our five P's.
The author(s) of an attorney blog will solely determine the blog's success or failure. The author is the blog, so it's critical to choose the right person for the job. If you run a one-man or one-woman firm, you will obviously be the blog's author. If you run a larger firm, you may have the opportunity to delegate blogging duties to the best candidate.
Whoever does the actual blog writing, it's crucial that they possess the final two P's of our list — passion and persistence.
P-4: The Passion
If you are going to maintain an attorney blog, you will get much further and enjoy greater benefits if you blog with passion and enthusiasm. There are two primary reasons for this:
1. If you blog about something you are enthusiastic about (your area of law, perhaps, as it applies to helping people), you will be more likely to blog on a regular basis. As a result, your blog will grow rapidly and thus provide more search engine visibility, traffic, readership, etc.
2. If you blog with enthusiasm and energy, people will find your attorney blog more interesting (than if you were half-hearted about your blogging). This will in turn help you grow your readership and foster interaction with your audience through the form of reader comments. So instead of having passive readers, you could enjoy the lead-producing benefits of active participation.
Half-hearted commentary stands out like a pink elephant in the business blogging world. This kind of commentary does more harm than good, whether it comes from the CEO, the communications chief, or Joe the Assistant. Enthusiasm also comes across in blog posts — and it's contagious.
P-5: Persistence
With attorney blogs, success comes over time. This is true regardless of how you define success. Whether you're blogging for better online visibility, to establish your authority, to generate leads or reinforce your brand, you will need to be persistent in your efforts.
This is especially true for small businesses (such as individual lawyers and small firms), since a small business blog will not have the "built-in" audience of a larger corporation. In the early days, you will likely be blogging to an audience of one — yourself. But in time, persistence can change all of that!