Targeted Personal and Practice Development for Lawyers

Are Blogs or Blawgs for Lawyers?

I listened to a great interview, by William Arruda, with Debbie Weil the blog expert a few days ago (http://www.wordbiz.com). This set me thinking about how effective blogs, which are essentially online diaries, could be for the legal profession.

Searching Debbie's site I found her saying "If you find the right person in your organisation to blog about your products or services you'll brand your company as authentic and knowledgeable."

A quick blog search directed me to the webside of an AM50 law firm Reed Smith LLP.  In an article entitled 'Blogging for Law Firms: Not Why but When and How'  I found the same quote from Debbie.  The article suggests that blogs can be a useful way to build your presence on the web easily.  This is particularly true if there is little information on the web in your specialist niche area.  If you post regularly to your blog you'll be found in search engines. "You'll gain notoriety and fame in a good way that you'd never have gotten any other way." (http://www.reedsmith.com/newsroom/newsView.cfm?itemid=49210&catid=6)

One great advantage of blogs is that you can add to them and edit them in a few minutes.  Very different to making changes to your website.

Have you Googled yourself recently?

I was reminded by an article in the Financial Times on 15 April that 23% of people search on the internet for the names of business contacts before they meet them.  This is according to a recent Harris Interactive poll.  I am one of the 23%.

What would your clients or business contacts find if they Googled you?

Will they find you at all?

If they do find you will you be happy with the information they get?

You may currently be anonymous on the web like many lawyers.

One quick way to raise you visibility is to become a power networker with a profile on www.ecademy.com. The high ranking of this website means you will become easy to find.  And you can update the information whenever you want.

In addition you will have the opportunity to network with a range of business professionals.