Tips for maintaining a successful law blog

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Attorneys with their own specialty law blogs say it’s a great way to reach potential clients and market one’s name within the legal community. But they also warn that if you do decide to set one up, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

Keep to a schedule, advised Minneapolis consumer law attorney Samuel Glover. You should make a minimum of one post a week. If it’s going to be less than that, let people know. “The goal when blogging should actually be to develop the blog, to have a readership of people that come back,” he explained.

Hopkins aviation law attorney Gregory Reigel also emphasized the importance of keeping the blog current. “If people see that the latest post is fairly recent, that adds more credibility to it,” he said. “It makes it look like an up-to-date and useful site.”

Glover said that it takes several months for a blog to start getting regular traffic and to develop a steady readership. “Keep at it,” he said. “Most lawyers give up way too soon.”

Being a good blogger involves more than just writing a blog, it also means being a good resident of the Blogosphere, according to Glover. He advised reading other people’s blogs, commenting on them when appropriate and doing guest posts when given the opportunity. “You cannot simply write your own blog and expect the traffic to show up,” he said.

Reigel suggested keeping the blog focused on one area of the law rather than on law-related issues in general. “Having a niche focus makes it a little bit easier; you can focus on a particular area and really do quality posts as opposed to talking about things more generally,” he explained.

Brendan Flaherty, a personal injury attorney with Pritzker Olsen in Minneapolis, stressed the importance of researching ways to improve the volume and quality of traffic to your blog.

“It does no good to have a blog that no one reads,” he said. “Identify who you are trying to reach and understand how search engine optimization works and you should be able to generate business.”

Rockport, Mass., attorney Robert Ambrogi, said that the key to a successful blog is to think of yourself as a publisher. He suggested having a sense of your audience, publishing on a regular basis and developing a consistent tone and voice. “It’s OK to be a little looser than you would be in a more scholarly article,” he said.