October 7 2008

October

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Building Blogs for Lawyers

Law Blogs : What You Must Know : Creation, Use, and Ethical & Liability Issues

New York City Bar AssociationNew York, NY

Daniel E. Clement, Attorney at Law, NYCScott H. Greenfield, Attorney at Law, NYC

Eric Turkewitz, Attorney at Law, NYCKevin O’Keefe, CEO, LexBlog, Inc, Seattle

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What we’ll cover

• Introduction to blogs• Ethical & liability issues• Blog publishing platforms• Better blogging practices• RSS, the secret to successful blogging• Growing traffic to your blog• Social networking for lawyers

What’s a law blog?

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• Web site• Covers niche area of law or locale• Published by one lawyer or practice group• Directed to regular readers within target

audience of blog publisher• As easy to update as writing an email - no coding

experience needed• Distributes content via RSS and email• Unique domain name & url address• Found via search engines, known domain, or links

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What it’s not

• Journal• Posts archived by calendar• Blend of personal information, random

thoughts and political views with legal information & insight

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http://privacylaw.proskauer.com/

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Where do you find them?

• Google – standard search• Google Blog Search• Other blogs• Blog directories

– ABA (blawg) legal blog directory– Justia (blawg) legal blog search

• LexMonitor – journal of law blogs

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Key features

• Name of blog• Blog publisher• Authors• Categories/topics• Promotional categories

– About you– Your services– Contact info with intake form

• Email subscription• Comments• Social bookmarking

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General advantages• New blog launched quickly• Easy to use ‘Learning curve is very low’• Inexpensive ‘Insignificant marketing

expense’• Comprehensive publishing, content

syndication (RSS) and interactive communication tool

• Cannot tell difference between well designed blog and website

Relationship to firm website

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• Complementary to site• Blog is ‘educational magazine’

published by law firm• Networking ‘leaving the office’ • Joining the conversation ‘blog is your

voice’• Draw traffic to site & lawyer bios• Can a blog be your website?

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Advantages to a lawyer

• Enhance reputation of lawyers as trusted and reliable authorities

• Establish brand based on expertise• Educational & tasteful marketing • Syndication of content via RSS• Far superior search results to Web

sites• Cost savings

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Why superior search results?

• Software architecture designed for publishing & getting content indexed

• Relevant & substantive content• Regular content updates• Incoming links

‘Blog : Better listing on Google’

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• Two-thirds of people do online research before selecting a service or product

• Nearly 70% of business executives and in house counsel go online to research lawyers during the hiring process

• What do people find when googling you?

Importance of search engines

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Advantages over current Internet marketing• Web site articles

– Poorly indexed & optimized for search engines - Pdf’s especially

– Frequency of content?– Difficult search – No table of contents/navigation– Users do not return to site

• Email newsletters– Corporate firewalls may block– Spam filters may block– Far less viral marketing effect

Adoption rate

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• 3,000 plus law blogs

• 4 new law blogs per day

• > 30% of large law firms

• 49% growth in large law firm blogs from November, 07 to March ‘08

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Who’s reading blogs?

• 75% reporters use blogs & RSS to locate experts and get insight on stories

• Corporate executives– >20% read at least one business blog/week– 96% generally familiar with blogs– 30% working understanding of blogs

• Busiest Americans read blogs

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RSSReal simple syndication

• Streams content to target audience• Built into blogs• Builds subscribers• Content reaches target audience• Content reaches amplifiers

– Bloggers– Media - trade & general mass media

• Email if not using RSS

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Newsreader Collects RSS feedsNewsreader Collects RSS feeds

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Aim high!Connecticut Employment Law Blog

• 5000 visits in first 6 weeks• Few calls a week, new client• Nearly 100 incoming links from third

party websites and blogs• Regularly cited by leading law &

employment bloggers (3 of the most read)

• CT law periodical coverage

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Where’s the content coming from?• Current content - extend it’s reach• Online news• Legal cases• Info from trade magazines &

newsletters• Info from CLE’s• RSS feeds = “The Discussion”

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Time commitment

* Harvard Management Communication Letter, Vol. 2, No. 4, November 2005

• Brief posts– 2 paragraphs, 2 to 3 sentences each– Expectation is less than that of

articles

• Harvard Business School - 1x/week *

• Less than articles, newsletters & alerts

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Legal Ethics & Liability Matters

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• Free Speech• Commercial Speech - Sullivan• Reasonable limits on commercial

speech - Bates

Blogs covered as advertising?

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Applicable New York rules

• Websites covered• Label as ‘Attorney Advertising’• Name of lawyer• Location of office• General advertising rules

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General ethics rules

• Cannot give specific advice• Cannot breach client

confidences• No false or misleading

communication

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• Not legal advice• General public information• Need to see lawyer in your state• No attorney client relationship

Use disclaimer

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• Defamation• IP• Fair Use• Section 230 of the

Communications Decency Act

Liability issues

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Blog Publishing Platforms

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Free

• Blogger• Can you use them as professional?• Do you know how to blog?• Do you have the time to learn?

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Low cost

• TypePad• GoDaddy, Yahoo & the like

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• Types• WordPress• Moveable Type• Drupal• Expression Engine

• Who• You• Web developer• Professional blog developer

Professional blog software

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Better blogging : 5 keys to success

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• Keeping posts simple & clear• Effective linking• Creating good titles• Using tags• Frequency of posts

What we’ll cover

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Keep posts simple

& clear• Blogs not read like a novel or treatise• Brevity or will lose subscribers• People scan on the net

• Bullets• Salient points in bold

• Offer insight & commentary• Who is your audience

Legal

Legal Sanity by Arnie Herzhttp://tinyurl.com/5pkylg

Legal

True Gothamby Douglas Heddingshttp://tinyurl.com/6rzgg5

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Link effectively – why?

• Links are the currency of blogging• Best blogs send people away• Helps readers• Helps SEO• Helps marketing• Provides trackbacks

Link effectively: How?

• Link to all references• Do not use url in text• Anchor text is key vs. ‘click here’• Authors• Posts• Link only to first reference of

subject

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Ct

Connecticut Employment Law Blog by Dan Schwartz http://tinyurl.com/3gy83p

Equine Law Blog by Allison Rowehttp://tinyurl.com/3zafhp

Climate Change Updateby Thelen Reidhttp://tinyurl.com/4jvlsh

Legal

Texas Appellate Law Blog by Todd Smithhttp://tinyurl.com/3pdj4o

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Create good titles : Why?

• SEO• Readers using RSS readers• Posts displayed by syndication

• News sites • Social networking sites

• Common sense

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Think syndication

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• Short• Subject is well defined• Keywords are in beginning of subject

Create good titles : How?

Chicago IP Litigation Blog by David Donaghuehttp://tinyurl.com/673cza

D & O Diary by Kevin La Croixhttp://tinyurl.com/5z8yz6

American Constitution Society Bloghttp://tinyurl.com/6452cr

Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer Blogby Ron Chapman http://tinyurl.com/6aufed

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• SEO• Organizational tool/hyper

search• Readers• You

• Social media & networking sites

Effective use of tags : Why?

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Effective tags : How?

• Specific to subjects in post• Not rise to level of category or

subcategory• Limit number to 4 or 5• Use consistent text for similar tags

Connecticut Employment Law Blog by Dan Schwartz http://tinyurl.com/59u4dr

Pennsylvania Employment Law Blog by Russell Krafft http://tinyurl.com/5jenfc

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Frequency of posts

• Once a week• Make it easy on yourself

• Use reader• Engage in conversation• Answer questions you receive

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RSS: The Secret Sauce of Blogging

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• Why use RSS

• How to use a RSS newsreader

• How to subscribe to particular sources

• How to subscribe to particular subjects

• How to subscribe to mentions of you, your blog, and your firm

• How to reference content discovered in RSS feeds

• How to use RSS feeds to further enhance your reputation

• How to use RSS feeds to market your blog

What we’ll cover


RSS Newsreaders

lexBlog Desktop RSS Newsreader

lexBlog Google Reader


How to subscribe toparticular sources

Subscribe to blog’s posts

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Grab the RSS feed url

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Subscribe to News Website


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Subscribing to particular subjects

Google Blog Search

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Subscribe to Google Blog Search Result

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Subscribe to Blog Search Results

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Google News

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Subscribe to Google News RSS Feed

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Subscribe to your self for vanity feeds

• Name• Company/firm’s names• Blog’s name• Blog url• Website url

lexBlog Search and subscribe to your url

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feeds

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• ID A-list bloggers• Legal area

• Industry

• People with interest in legal area & industry

• ID A-list publications• ID A-list keywords & phrases

• Topics

• People

• Competitors

RSS feeds to further enhance yourreputation & market blog

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RSS feeds to further enhance your reputation & market blog

• Enter discussion with thought leaders• Network with media – trade & mass• Network with conference coordinators• Best blogs send people away• Blogging at its best is a conversation• Marketing is a conversation

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Marketing Your Blog : Growing Traffic

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• Defining success

• Entering into the “discussion” with other leaders

• Registration with blog directories and blog search engines

• Law blog announcement sites

• Twitter

• Social networking sites ala LinkedIn, StumbleUpon

• Blogroll

• Meeting “A-list” bloggers

• Commenting on other blogs

• SEO

• Press releases

What we’ll cover

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Defining success

• What is your goal?• Traffic is not goal• Be realistic• Influence takes time

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Entering into the discussion with other leaders

• Talk about their posts• Talk about what’s relevant to them• Don’t be a troll• Best blogs send people away• Best way to become influencer

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Blogs are a Rotary meeting

• Find the discussion• Listen to the discussion• Engage in the discussion• Empower your audience• Use your blog to organize in person

meet ups

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Register with blog directories and blog search engines

• ABA Blawg Directory• Justia BlawgSearch• LexMonitor• Vertical law blog directories• Local blog directories• Inter alia – blog announcement site

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Twitter

• Get your account• Individual versus firm• Personal versus information tweets• Add value to the discussion• Share your posts• Reference context of post• Follow leaders to grow twitter followers

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Social Networking Sites

• LinkedIn• StumbleUpon

• Getting others is key

• Facebook• FriendFeed

Blogroll

• What is it?• Custom on each blog• A list blogs • Blogs of interest• Using to get noticed• Leveraging blogroll to gain intro’s

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Meeting A-list bloggers

• Email• Twitter• In person• Comments in blogs and

FriendFeed

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Commenting on other blogs

• More than valuable than posts• Bloggers love comment love• Legal blogs• Industry blogs• Local blogs

SEO

• Post titles• Blog categories• Blog post format

• Anchor text in links• Bullets• Bolds• Headers

• Garnering organic links• Effective blogging leads to SEO

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Mainstream press

• Press releases• Building a relationship with

reporters– Report on what they report– Email– Post as a resource on ‘news story’

• They have jobs – understand what it is

• They are your friend• Use of LinkedIn with reporters

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And more…

• Syndication of content– Existing sites– Keep your eyes open

• Guest posting• Having guest posters• Interviews• Cover events• Let LexBlog know of successes –

‘LexBlogosphere’

Re

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Results of social networking & use of social media

Thanks & for info/questions

Dan [email protected]

Scott [email protected]

Eric [email protected]

Kevin OKeefe, LexBlog, [email protected]

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www.lexBlog.com

October 7 2008

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