Blogs - are they right for you?

We have found that blogs have been useful marketing vehicles for some of our clients. The reason? They are inexpensive, easy-to-find, and readership is increasing.

Some background for those of you new to blogs:

“Blog” is a term that is short for “web log,” or a journal on the web. The idea behind a blog is that without knowing the technical side of web publishing, a writer can publish new information regularly. And with the advent of easy-to-use tools, blogging has caught on as a popular medium.

From the reader’s point of view, a blog looks like a website with dated entries or articles.

Relative low cost to blog

In addition to the many great blog hosts and tools that make it easy to blog, the cost is much lower than many other marketing options. For the big names in blog hosting, businesses pay up to $150 a year for blogs. And many services offer free blogs.

The higher expenditure is your time. Because the key to a successful blog is adding new entries often, you need to write often and dedicate time to updating your blog.

Search engines love blogs

Because blogs are updated often, search engines are good about crawling and adding that new information to search results. In the world of increased search engine ranking importance, this can really give your firm a boost. Potential clients will find your firm more easily if you have a regularly updated blog online.

Blog readership is increasing

According to comScore’s August “Behaviors of the Blogosphere” report, 50 million US Internet users visited blogs in Q1 of 2005. That’s a big increase from the 34 million of 2004.

With blog readership increasing, and business blogs becoming more popular, it is a good time to attract clients with a blog.

We have found that blogging works best for those practices that have constant changes to communicate–product liability, class-actions, and pharmaceutical litigation are a few areas that can give up-to-the-minute information to clients and potential clients.

Areas that will have success with blogs are increasing

Any attorney that wants to establish a relationship with potential clients can do so by sharing their expert knowledge, and publishing insight and tips to the public.

What will you write for your potential clients?