by David Carson
Free Blogs at Solo Practice University
May 19, 2008 in Announcements by David Carson
Solo Practice University™ is going to be a web-based educational and networking community for lawyers and law students. But did you know we’re also going to give away free blogs to all community members?
Many solo lawyers know they should blog but don’t have a clue about getting started. Because we firmly believe law students should learn about blogging and related technology in law school but don’t, Solo Practice University™ will provide some of the best instruction on legal blogging from recognized experts. But instruction alone isn’t always enough. Sometimes the best way to learn about blogging is through personal experimentation.
To that end, the Solo Practice University™ platform will enable its members to –
- create an unlimited number of blogs within seconds
- control privacy settings for each blog (private/SPU community/public)
- import/export data with a single click
…and we’ll be using one of the most flexible and state-of-the-art blog publishing platforms in existence.
Free blogs for community members is just another way we are going to make starting your solo practice career easier, smarter, and less intimidating.
Keep watching for more exciting news.
Susan and Dave
I hope you are going to make clear the different purposes of web sites and blogs, as you see them. I believe I see the use of a web site pretty clearly, but I am not sure about how a blog would help a solo practice.
Dan, A blog is a website, by definition, so I’m not sure they can have different purposes.
As I see it, a blog can serve whatever purpose its author intends. Communicate with clients. Get new clients. Archive changes in the law. Share those changes in the law with colleagues or employees. Add your personal commentary. Network. The possibilities are endless.
Don’t let the term “blog” distract you. Call it whatever you like – a blog is just a personal publishing platform.
Dan — I would be curious to know what you see as the use of a “website”. David is certainly correct in his statement that a blog is a Web site. However, a blog is so much more. Some might call a blog a content management system (CRM) But, we can take CRM and call it a Conversation, Relationship and Meeting place.
The biggest difference between a blog and a Web site is how they work. I equate a Web site to a pay and pray web yellow page ad. Where you throw something up on the Internet which resembles a yellow page ad and you pray someone might stop by to see your information and maybe, just maybe call you.
A blog is an interactive, proactive, and effective marketing tool. A blog allows you the opportunity as a solo lawyer to provide constant, up-to-date and relevant information to your target audience. A blog gives you the opportunity to turn visitors into readers who in turn become return readers and who you will actually develop a relationship with. A blog allows a solo lawyer to create a place for a conversation to happen.
You the lawyer post content on a regular basis. The content is relevant to your audience in that you are providing information to answer questions or provide solutions to issues they may have. You allow a way for your readers to comment or ask additional questions on that “post” which you then can also comment on. You Empower your readers to participate in an online, up-to-date, relevant conversation.
A blog is so much more than a “static” Web site. If you will take advantage of the FREE blog offered by SPU and set up a blog. Launch the blog. Maintain the blog and update it with relevant content on a regular basis, you position yourself as the go to place for information in your particular niche or practice area. You can not do that with a static Web site anymore than you can with a yellow page ad.
Currently it is projected that 75% of those consumers looking for a professional service provider are going to the Internet first to find information on those providers. A blog will put you at the top of that list of providers because a blog if updated on a regular basis, will be found before a static Web site.
A blog provides information to those consumers in a form and fashion they not only will understand, but can use. And they will continue to come back because they will realize your blog is the place to go. Return visitors happen on a blog. They seldom happen to a static Web site.
Every one can do a yellow page ad or a Web site. But everyone can not afford to do the same size of yellow page ad or the same fancy, flash driven web site. A blog actually will put and does put a solo lawyer on the same footing as a “big law” firm by providing a solo a wonderful web presence.
A blog can benefit your solo practice in so many ways:
1. are not expensive
2 launch quickly
3. search engines love blogs
4. publishing a blog shows your readers who you are
5. they offer you a completely new way to communicate with your clients, prospects and fellow lawyers
6. your target market is using the web
7. they position you as the go to place to find information
8. they position you as a thought leader in your niche
9. you will be in a position to succeed
10. puts you in control of your own web based magazine and talk show
11. your blog will never disappear from the reach of your target market
12. if you don’t blog, you will be left behind by those who do and will.
Thanks, Grant. I was hoping you might chime in. =)
Dan,
I’d also add that a blog gives your client’s an opportunity to see you in your niche before hiring you. That is, if you practice family law, they can glean your experience and knowledge of the subject matter in relation to your other viewers and comments. This makes in turn results in more calls from potential clients and less “selling” yourself at the all-important initial meeting.
Exactly! The old business maxim that ‘people do business with people they like and trust’ is true. Writing a blog is an excellent vehicle for demonstrating your style, trustworthiness, etc to clients. They get to ‘try you on’ before deciding to hire you.
It also establishes the mediator as a ‘thought leader’ within his target niche. Mediation can be considered a commodity of sorts so having a recognized brand within your niche can mean the difference between a full calendar and not. A la ‘who you gonna call…ghostbusters’
I’ve published a blog since since 2005 and have become known for treating mediation practices like true businesses. That idea resonates with new and established mediators.
Solo practitioners who take advantage of this generous offer will find their time and efforts rewarded.
I started up a blog a little over two weeks ago so that I may get my feet wet. My niche is in labor and employment law but my first two posts were not directed at that point. Right now I just want to let myself float a little and see where this goes. Yes, I will start more of a direction to my blog but right now I am just enjoying the start up and learning involved in something that is so new to me. chuck
I just started a blog a few months ago and it has been a great pleasure and hopefully a resource for those who want to know about construction law.
Also, I’d like to add to the blog vs. website discussion. Wordpress (which is being used at SPU) is an excellent platform. You can actually set up a wordpress system (for free) on your own hosting server (wherever you host your website). The great thing about wordpress is you can customize the layout so that it appears like a “normal” site. That is, it doesn’t have to be centered around the blog. Many FREE themes availble allow you to restructure the homepage so that the blog area is just a PART of the overall site. After you create a blog here, goto your dashboard and fool around with creating pages. Worpress allows you to create “non-blog” pages that can be used for contact info, office directions, practice areas, bio’s etc. So once you dive into wordpress you will really see that it is a website platform with built in blogging. I myself having been a graphic and webdesigner since I was 15 have just gotten into wordpress in the last few months and I am thoroughly impressed. I am actually restructuring my personal website using worpress and am planning on designing it more as a website foremost but also with a blog section. I will post links once I get most of it set up to show you how wordpress can really feel like an actual website and not just a blog. Visit David Carson’s projects website also as a good example.
Thanks, Frank, for that very good intro to wordpress. I’m fairly versed (but sometimes need heavy lifting done my others) in using dotnetnuke for creating websites. I like the easy and complete control over site content and organization, also the many modules (including blogs) offered by developers. I particularly like the ease with which I can make areas of the site private to specific users or groups of users. My question is, what would I be losing by switching to wordpress? The seeming simplicity of wordpress appeals to me, but I’m wondering what I would miss if I made the switch.
@ Malcolm – As a Wordpress designer, I can tell you exactly what you’d lose by moving to WP as a site platform: paying someone else to make changes to your content.
WP allows you to have a great deal of flexibility and control over your site. It’s easy to learn, easy to lose, allows you to rank better for google and lets you customize your site the way you want it with almost no limits. I have yet to find a disadvantage of making the switch, which is why all the sites we build for clients are created on a WP platform, whether they blog or not.
Yes, that’s right – you can customize a WP site to look identical to a ’static’ site. It doesn’t even look like a blog at all. Pretty cool stuff.
>I can tell you exactly what you’d lose by moving to WP as a site platform: paying someone else to make changes to your content.<
I wasn’t proposing to pay someone else to make changes to my content
As I said, I create and maintain sites with dotnetnuke and am wondering what disadvantages I’d find moving to Wordpress.