Legal Marketing & PR

90% of Lawyers Missing Out on Blogging

By Larry Bodine, Esq.

Only 10% of lawyers have their own blog, according to a survey LexisNexis conducted a survey at LegalTech on the adoption of Web 2.0 capabilities in the legal market. And only 17% of the respondents' firms have a blog, according to the survey. though it isn't clear from the results how many might once have had a blog, but gave it up. LN's Sami Hero says the results "reflect well last year's ABA Tech Survey and demonstrates a hesitation to "jump in.'"

This is an improvement over the findings in the ABA's 2007 Legal Technology Survey Report from July 7, 2007.  Bob Ambrogi summarized it, "Perhaps the most surprising finding is that blogging..."is not catching fire just yet." Only 5 percent of lawyers say their firm has a blog, and only 5 percent say they maintain a personal legal-topic blog."

My friends, it's time to put away the quill pen and buggy whip.  Join the 21st Century.

Blogs are an excellent way to bring in new business.  You are proving that you are a marketing Luddite by not having one.  As I've been telling audiences for years, there are 7 compelling reasons to start a professional blog:

1. They are easy to set up and use. Simply go to Blogger at www.blogger.com or TypePad at http://www.typepad.com/ and open an account. Once the blog is established, you can simply type in the text of your post in an online box.  You don't need to know HTML code. To put your message online, just click on the appropriate button. The software will select a Web address.
2. They are cheap. Some are free and others offer a month's free trial.  You can get a Typepad account for only $15 per month. This is much cheaper than hiring a developer to create a Web site for you.
3. They are highly visible and quickly draw visitors. Search engines rank blogs highly because they contain predominately text and they are updated frequently – two things that attract search engines.
4. Blog programs allow multiple authors to update the blog, so that a firm can launch a practice group blog and enlist numerous authors to share the writing duties.
5. The topic can be about anything. A blog can simply recount a lawyers thoughts, viewpoints and news. They can also be used for firm announcements, client newsletters, legal updates, and answers to common client questions.
6. They give the author instant credibility and expert status on the topic.  Journalists read and subscribe to blogs, so be ready for phone calls from reporters looking for a quotes.
7. If you fail to set up a blog on your special topic, someone else will claim it before you do. The attention and traffic goes to the early adopters, not the lawyers who wait to decide to join the trend a year later.

Full post as published by Larry Bodine's LawMarketing Blog on February 19, 2008 (boomark / email).