Blogs as marketing tools: Lawyers who maintain them say they work.
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How does a Minnesota attorney end up as a guest on Maine Public Radio’s Maine Things Considered? Rider Bennett business law attorney Patrick Robben is convinced he got on the show because his law blog — the Minnesota Business Litigation Blog — attracted the attention of the show’s producers. Robbens appeared on the show last month to discuss legal issues surrounding blogging in general. Attorneys who maintain law blogs say they can be an effective marketing device that gets their names out to potential clients as well as other lawyers who may serve as referral sources. Minneapolis attorney LaVern A. Pritchard, founder of the LawMoose legal search portal, said that law blogs can be particularly useful to attorneys who like to write and understand that it is a long-term rather than a short-term project. In principle, it can be a good idea if you actually have something to say and there is a defined niche area that you know a lot about, he said. The real successful ones are those with good writers, good thoughts and good ‘takes’ on things. Minneapolis consumer law attorney Samuel J. Glover, who has been running his law blog — caveatemptorblog.com — for nearly a year and half, said that blogging is a method attorneys can use to reach people in a unique way. Lawyers need to find new ways of marketing and communicating with clients, he said. Marketing tool Lawyer bloggers start their blogs for a variety of reasons — they like to write or they want to bring relevant information to the public. For most, however, the blog is an effort to market their name or law firm over the Internet to potential clients. It’s a marketing tool to bring in business and market myself in the abstract sense, said Glover. Brendan J. Flaherty, an attorney with Pritzker Ruohonen & Associates in Minneapolis, said his firm started up its Food Poisoning Law Blog about a year ago, in part because it wanted to provide the public with information about product recalls and other food-related issues. We wanted to fill a need as far as what information is lacking, he said. Flaherty acknowledges that the blog is also an effort to market the firm’s food-poisoning practice. We want to show that we are experts in this area. Our website was not enough of a venue to do that, he said. We had to have a blog. Minneapolis solo practitioner Andrew S. Miller, who practices in the areas of estate planning, probate and Internet law, is relatively new to the world of law blogs, having started his blog just last month. I thought that having a blog would be a huge source of information for the public and a way to get my name out there, he said, noting that while most lawyers focus on traditional methods of marketing, he wanted to pursue a different avenue.It’s a good way to reach an audience that is already into blogging. According to Pritchard, the traditional means of legal marketing are good, but different people are good at different things. Some are naturally good at writing and publishing on the Web, he said. The best marketing strategy is something that feels natural to you. Pritchard added that a lot of law firm marketing is institutional these days. Blogs, on the other hand, are more personal. This is more of a one-on-one relationship with a potential client or potential referral source, he said. Lawyers say that in addition to reaching potential clients, blogs reach other lawyers, who may then refer potential clients. I think a lot of lawyers view blogs too, so it’s a good referral source, said Flaherty. Worth the effort? The question in many nonblogging lawyers’ minds is whether it’s worth it. Will a blog attract enough good clients to make the time and money spent worthwhile? Most lawyer bloggers would say yes, especially since the cost of setting up and maintaining the blog is minimal. Miller said that setting up his blog cost him nothing and that it’s easy to maintain and update. He noted that it takes only 15 to 20 minutes to make a posting and he tries to make several postings every month. According to Robben, there were some initial costs involved in coordinating the graphics on his blog, but that going forward, the costs are negligible. The return on the minimal investment pays off for many lawyer bloggers. Glover’s blog has been an unqualified success. He told Minnesota Lawyer that he can now trace approximately 90 percent of his clients back to his blog. They may have a problem that I talked about on my blog, he said. Glover added that the quality of his clients has improved since starting the blog as well. He attributes this to the information he posts. Many people who might have just picked up the phone and called will now think about whether they have a claim first, he said. I try to educate people about issues they may be facing before they call. Flaherty said that his firm’s food poisoning blog has proved beneficial. He pointed out that whether a blog is successful as a marketing effort depends on how well it is integrated with an overall marketing plan. The blog also should be integrated with the firm’s website, he added. Flaherty explained that his law firm’s blog contains a subtle message to check out the firm’s website, which has the call to action and the information a person needs to contact the firm. It is working for us. Search engines pick up blogs better than static websites, he noted. Miller said that it’s too soon to know whether his blog will be an effective marketing tool, but he said that other websites — like mortgage broker and financial sites — are beginning to link to his blog. It’s interesting to see who’s interested in it, he said. Less is more Lawyer bloggers have some advice for attorneys who are thinking of starting a blog for marketing purposes. Groves said to stay up to date with the blog. There is nothing worse than a blog with just one posting a month or so, he said. They are a fantastic way to market and to raise the firm’s profile. But don’t do it unless you are going to do it. Pritchard’s advice is to avoid having the blog look like an overt marketing tool. You want them to be in an individual voice because that is more interesting and insightful, he said. Flaherty suggested keeping the blog simple. It’s more effective to have it simple, less cluttered, he said. Less is more. Minnesota’s lawyer bloggers Only a handful of Minnesota attorneys have taken the plunge into the world of blogging. Here are is a sampling of their blogs: * http://www.aerolegalservices.com/aviationlawdiscussions.shtml * http://businessdisputeresolutionservices.com/blog * http://www.andrewmillerlaw.com/blog.htm * http://www.thehlo.tumblr.com * http://www.caveatemptorblog.com * http://www.minnesotalitigation.com * http://medialawminnesota.blogspot.com More : accessmylibrary.com |