Ready for your webinar recap? Colin, LexBlog’s Director of Product, recently walked us through how to blog to attract new clients and beyond that, level up your career. During this webinar, Colin unpacked some approaches and tools you can use, along with some examples of who truly does it well, backed by testimonials directly from these bloggers. We are looking forward to hosting more of these on the last Wednesday of each month.
If you couldn’t join us this time, Don’t worry. You can catch the full recording of the webinar here.
Colin dives into some topics including answers to:
- What are the basics to blogging?
- What does success look like?
- Who are some successful bloggers implementing these strategies?
Why does it matter? The answer is simple. Blogging has the power to change your career and the work you get to do. It can and has happened. But you have to do it right to see results.
Let’s dive into what Colin hit on:
Asking the right questions
What does it look like when a blog is successful? How does that work come in?
First he hits on questions that we often hear from our clients regarding their blog:
- How do we get more traffic?
- How do we rank higher for our general blog subject?
- How do we add email subscribers?
We want to help you answer the bigger questions beyond how many email subscribers. The data is helpful but it’s good to look at the big picture here. The goal is to see success in ways that surpass analytics.
Your goal should be to become an authority in your chosen niche and bring in real work, not just to increase certain metrics. You want to be the thought leader, the person that people can trust and refer others to. Remember, this is how lawyers are hired in the first place.
Real World Examples
Now let’s dive into a few shining examples of who does it right and what exactly they did differently to achieve success.
Consumer Finance Law Monitor from Ballard Spahr
- Seized the opportunity: The blog launched the same day as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), allowing it to immediately become a leading source of information and commentary on the CFPB.
- Went niche: They honed in on covering news on the CFPB, although it has since broadened to the larger consumer finance space. It’s better to start narrow and then branch out later.
- They have a “secret weapon”: Ballard Spahr has a lawyer whose primary responsibility is to write up a ton of content and also enjoys doing so.
- Takes it beyond the blog: The team also takes what ever they do beyond the blog whether it be live sessions, or a podcast.
- Led by a “champion” lawyer: When the blog started, it was under the direction of practice group leader Alan Kaplinsky. This makes a big difference.
What the success looked like: The blog brought in new work from existing clients who didn’t know they did this type of work, as well as brand new clients who didn’t know about them before. Beyond acquiring new clients, it spread brand awareness and helped recruit top-tier talent.
Take a look at the Consumer Finance Law Monitor Blog here.
Hilary Bricken’s blog on Cannabis Law
- Seized the opportunity: Hilary started blogging on cannabis law 12 years ago, jumping on the opportunity first and seizing that niche. She identified an up-and-coming topic and was one of the first to seriously blog on it.
- Stuck with it: She was extremely persistent and knew that success wasn’t going to happen overnight.
- Covered an entire industry—not always just the law: Hilary didn’t just cover the law around the topic, she took it one step further and covered the industry from a legal perspective. This means she leaned into what she knew and built upon the latest news to share opportunities or threats and what it truly means for her audience.
- Writes interesting posts: She figured out a formula on what exactly performed well and put some thought into the types of content her audience enjoys reading.
“If you want people to read what you write, you have to write stuff that people want to read.”
Colin O’Keefe
What the success looked like: She went from a beginning lawyer to named partner at her boutique firm to moving on to being a partner in biglaw. Someone in an authoritative position in the government suggested Hilary’s blog as a great beacon for information. The blog has also since been cited in a couple of law school textbooks.
Give Hilary Bricken’s blog a look here.
Jeff Nowak at FMLA Insights
- A recurring theme—started with a niche: As you’ve probably noticed by now, having a niche is important. Jeff dove into a specific area that wasn’t addressed enough and his blog became the powerhouse of information because of it. When choosing what to blog on, look at where you can be a big fish in a small pond—so there is more of an opportunity to become an expert.
- Posts are always accessible and readable: Think about how people are consuming content on the web. You want to make it extremely easy to read however people are accessing it. Also, keep in mind how digestible the content is: can I skim it if I don’t have much time and still pull out the key points?
- Does an outstanding job answering questions: If you keep getting a question over and over from clients, odds are it’d make for a great blog post. Even if that’s not how all of these types of posts come in, he often phrases post titles in ways someone would ask a question—which can be great for search.
- Owns his subject, but isn’t limited to it: He covers the heck out of FMLA and does it in a very accessible way, but still occasionally branches out to discuss other engaging topics in employment law.
What the success looked like: For Jeff, he acquired a major client and realized that he had built a lot of respect from the employment law community just by having a blog. He became the lawyer that people could trust and knew FMLA inside and out.
“A blog is a really powerful thing to have in your back pocket as a source of validity.”
Colin O’Keefe
Check out the latest on Jeff Nowak’s FMLA Insights here.
Takeaways
- The ceiling is really high, and you should aim for it.
- You need a niche to see success.
- Consistency is key – but you probably already know this
- Remember…it’s a blog. Have fun with it! It’s an opportunity to connect with your readers and clients.
LexBlog is always here to help! We would love to support you along the way and provide a comprehensive solution that hits on everything that has to do with legal blogging. From strategic consulting to blog design and network visibility, we have you covered. You can always reach out to us here to see where we can fill the gaps and get the ball rolling.
We also just launched Stoddard, which we previously published another 99 Park Row post about, but it’s a new look to the blog pro theme. Extra sleek and more accessible than ever, this is a great place to get started.
Well, we have a lot more where this came from. Up next is ‘Using Your Law Blog to Build Your Network’ on March 27th. You can register here. We’ll discuss:
- Writing posts with a clear audience in mind
- Engaging with the mainstream media
- Using existing conversations for content
- Following up once a post is published
Our webinars are free and open to all—LexBlog clients and non-clients alike. We also stream all these webinars in real-time on our social media. However, if you want to participate directly and ask questions, you’ll need to register in advance.
Anyway, until next time! Again, don’t hesitate to reach out to me, claire@lexblog.com or colin@lexblog.com if you have any questions.
