Wednesday, January 1, 2014

A Blog About a Blog

The main reason I write a blog is to actively practice what I preach (and sell!)  Blogging now more than ever needs to be an integral part of your online marketing mix. A blog serves many functions in the online marketing space to the point where your law firm is really missing the mark if you are not taking advantage of utilizing a blog.  A blog has oodles of SEO value, increases brand awareness by engaging readers and builds credibility/authority for your firm and your website.

1.  SEO - A blog flat out has a ton of positive SEO value.  Search engines love sites that are updated with fresh AND relevant content (we can debate benefits of an offsite blog vs. onsite blog later...) and a blog accomplishes this.  Blogs can also be submitted to directories, pushed out through social media and can be a part of your strategy to create organic inbound links.  The relevant content portion is important.  A blog can help you expand your web presence when done around a specific topic (family law, per se) and helps build site authority which can drive your website higher in the search ranks for relevant search queries.  I personally believe this is the biggest benefit of blog.

2. Brand Awareness & Engagement - It is a part of mass marketing and helps you keep your brand out there to engage potential readers and potentially clients down the road.  Will you earn cases directly from your blog?  Probably not however keeping your firm's expertise pushed out through multiple channels can keep your firm at top of mind for when life gets legal for your potential clients.

If you are a solo attorney or a small law firm you need to be diligent about blog writing which can be difficult.  A couple times a month is ideal and if you cannot find the time, hire a professional to blog on behalf of your firm.  Also a professional will be able to help promote your blog to third party sites to help with SEO.

If you or your firm isn't actively blogging it is time to add it to your marketing mix.  Take the time this January to write down 24 topics and schedule time to write 2 blogs per month!!