Your blog and firm Web site: Keep them separate

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Boston – For lawyers, a blog is an invaluable tool for marketing, networking and getting the word out about you and your firm. But according to Kevin O’Keefe, president of LexBlog and author of “Real Lawyers Have Blogs,” a common mistake made by blogging attorneys is embedding the blog into their firm’s Web site – which could cost them credibility and readership.

Lawyers USA recently spoke with O’Keefe about the problems associated with making your blog a part of your firm’s Web site.

(Italics) What are the primary reasons why a small firm lawyer should avoid embedding his or her blog into the firm’s Web site?

For starters, it’s not really blogging. A blog in a Web site is not really a blog, in my opinion. To have a blog located outside of a Web site, you’re announcing that you’re willing to go out into a social network and engage in conversation, which is what blogging is all about.

Having a blog in a Web site is like offering a presentation to local business people, but making it required for them to come to your conference room so they see the diplomas on your wall.

(Italics) Doesn’t keeping the blog on the firm’s Web site lead to more readership?

Absolutely not. A separate blog gets linked to far more often. How many law firm Web sites get linked to by other blogs? Do we see the Wall Street Journal citing a law firm Web site? Or the local newspaper? Why is that? It’s because it’s seen as marketing material.

Other lawyers tend not to cite other marketing material. They feel more comfortable referencing a conversation.

(Italics) What about potential clients? Wouldn’t they be likely to feel it lends more credibility to a blog to have it attached to a main site?

I would much rather hire a lawyer that I see willing to give of himself without asking me to look at promotional stuff at same time. It shows me he or she is knowledgeable and comfortable sharing that information. You don’t want to be like other lawyers who write something and then say, “Here’s my 1-800 number and awards I’ve gotten.” You wouldn’t go to a Rotary meeting wearing your firm’s logo on your suit.

(Italics) How much information about you and your firm does belong on your blog?

Place all of that information in the “About You” section: what services you provide, your firm and contact information. Keep it separate from the main page. You want to have your blog cited and for reporters to call you. It gives you street cred.

(Italics) What does the evolution of blogs mean for law firm Web sites?

I’m beginning to wonder why any small law firm would even want a Web site. You don’t need one. If a client is looking, for example, for an estate planning lawyer in Arizona and comes across an Arizona estate planning law blog, they’ve got all the information they need.