I’ve heard the question many times, from many lawyers: “Should I blog?”
The answer is not simple. Can you write? Do you have something interesting to say? Or is your plan to simply regurgitate boring legal crap in hopes of bumping up your SEO juice? If it’s the latter, that’s not enough motivation to keep a blog running and nobody is going to read it.
What should you write? Highlight issues that you see in practice — especially common issues that trip up clients, like breach of fiduciary duty in a divorce case. Take complicated legal topics and make them as approachable as possible. And have a little fun — clients need to be comfortable with you, and a fun, engaging blog is a way to reach them before they even come in the door.
The other question I always follow up with is this: “Will you keep up with it?” And the answer, for most people, is “no.” Just like any other resolution, they start out well, with a few posts here and there. Then life gets in the way and …. [crickets].
Imagine for a second that you are the prospective client. You look up the lawyer’s site and see a blog that hasn’t been updated in years. It’s not a deal-breaker. But it does show a certain lack of attention to detail.
What’s the point of all this? I’ve been naughty. See my posts here: three or four quickies, followed by silence. Or see my law firm site: one quick post on that glorious landmark marriage equality decision, with little else before or since.
Why? I can only plead busy: I’m taking a second bar exam in my home state of Missouri (the uniform bar — whoop!), while starting a law firm, while working contract work to keep the lights on. Oh, and I have a crazy little idea for a legal startup that I’m writing a business plan for in hopes of getting funding.
That’s life though, and it’s why most people shouldn’t blog. Because an abandoned blog is a sad and lazy blog. I’ll try to be better.
