Law Firm Internet Marketing | Don't Blog for Business

I bet you think the title is a bit weird, right? Don't blog for business? That makes no sense. It does make sense, and I'm going to tell you why right now.

First things first, I don't really care how great your writing skills are. I don't care how profound your ideas are. The fact of the matter is that most people will never read, see, or know your blog exists, much less hire you because of it. They will either stumble across your website, get referred from a friend, or find your blog and call you because of that. But it won't be because you wowed them.

Let's face it, most of the people that will read your blog, if any, are colleagues and others looking for a discussion about the state of the law in your area of expertise. And, if potential clients are reading all that you have to say, it's probably because they want to try to take care of the case on their own, and they are looking for all the free information they can get.

No you shouldn't blog for business, you should blog because it provides you a vehicle to not only discuss what matters today in your world and in your profession, but it allows you to memorialize those discussions, to look back on them later and reflect, and to know you are building your expertise with thought and analysis so when that client does show up you can actually help them out.

Take this blog, for example, the law firm internet marketing blog. I'm not really doing this for any other reason than I love talking about internet marketing and how it's helping my business. I also think there are a lot of scam artists out there claiming to be law firm internet marketers who are just cashing your check every month and laughing all the way to the bank. I want to help people distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys so they don't waste their money. I also want to pull back the veil that is internet marketing so people can understand what is really going on.

Sure, it doesn't hurt if you link to your site from your blog and let people know you're out there. That will help you in the long run. But you shouldn't be writing just for marketing purposes. Think about the topics that are top of mind in your practice area and discuss them and talk about them. It will help your internet marketing efforts, it will help your practice, and it will help you become the expert you want to become.