When I discuss blogging with lawyers, time is one of their biggest concerns.
Seth Godin, an incredibly busy marketer, author, entrepreneur and speaker blogs every day per Dave Gerhardt (@davegerhardt) in a piece over on HubSpot.
Why does Seth do it?
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Blogging every day clarifies my thoughts — it helps me notice things. It’s one of the most important practices of my profession.
Some people are just like that. For Godin and Philadelphia ethics attorney Jennifer Ellis, it’s about the benefits that come with it.
“I try to blog every day for the same reason that I blog period. 1. It is a great way to educate people. 2. It is a great way to increase SEO. (And yes, that is the order for me.)”
I am not saying you ought to blog daily, though many lawyers do so. For another, Harris Moure’s Dan Harris (@danharris) — who himself blogs near-daily on the China Law Blog — notes that Hilary Bricken (@cannabizlawyer) and rest of the firm’s Canna Law Group, which is behind the Canna Law Blog, “have not missed a single day in a year and a half.”
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I suggest that you look at blogging differently.
Take to heart a couple things Seth shared with HubSpot on blogging.
1. Write like you talk.
Come to me after you stop watching TV or the Internet. If you’re not doing these things, I’m willing to listen to the fact that you don’t have time. Everybody has time to speak. Everybody has time to talk about how their day went — so if you write like you talk, all you have to do is write down that thing you said. It literally can take 90 seconds if you want it to.
2) Make the decision once and then commit.
If you can make a decision once, then the question isn’t should I do it? It’s what will I do? If you make the decision once to be a vegan, then you don’t need to have a discussion with yourself every single night about whether or not to have a hamburger. If you make the decision to blog every single day, then the only discussion I have to have with myself is what’s the best blog post I can write — not should I write a post. As (Saturday Night Live Producer) Lorne Michaels has said, ‘Saturday Night Live’ doesn’t go on because it’s ready. It goes on because it’s 11:30.
Blogging didn’t start as article writing, content marketing, or a website traffic magnet. Blogging started as a way for people to log their activity on the Web with an accompanying comment. Thus the name ‘weblog,’ later abbreviated to ‘blog.’ But it’s evolved into so much more.
Take people like Bill Marler (@bmarler), managing partner of Marler Clark, which has a network of foodborne illness blogs that includes Bill’s own MarlerBlog. There, he’s found blogging to be not just an outlet but an alarm, as he says “I blog because I have a passion that people should not die from their dinner.” And the passion shows in his writing, where he blogs with the same fervent language you’d hear if you were in person to listening to him speak.
Unlike an article, a blog is a way to intentionally notice things you read online and to clarify your ideas on what you read through posting brief thoughts with a link to what you read.
Once you do that that, not only do you learn, but you engage and connect with the author or reporter of what you read.
For people like Rick Georges (@rickgeorges), author of Future Lawyer, it’s just taking all those thoughts and translating them to the page. “I used to blog every day in my head,” said Georges. “Now, I do it online.”
Blogging like that has obvious benefits for you as a lawyer. You develop professionally through learning. You grow a network of people who you learn from and who inspire you. You demonstrate to the outside world (clients and prospective clients) that you stay abreast of developments, are developing ongoing expertise, and have passion for an area of the law.
And, of course, you do it because it’s enjoyable, as Kelly Phillips Erb (@taxgirl) of the Forbes Taxgirl blog notes “I write everyday (or close to it) because it’s fun — why do it otherwise?”
Crazy how over the last decade-plus, the legal profession has turned something so simple and rewarding into something so complicated. In the process, the gift of blogging has been stolen from so many lawyers.
Should you blog everyday as a lawyer? Not necessarily, but there are worse things you could be doing with your time.
Kevin O’Keefe (@kevinokeefe) is the CEO and founder ofLexBlog, which empowers lawyers to increase their visibility and accelerate business relationships online. With LexBlog’s help, legal professionals use their subject matter expertise to drive powerful business development through blogging and social media. VisitLexBlog.com.
LexBlog also hosts LXBN, the world’s largest network of professional blogs. With more than 8,000 authors, LXBN is the only media source featuring the latest lawyer-generated commentary on news and issues from around the globe. Visit lxbn.com now.