Natalie Alesi Blogging for Business Social Media Series ...ilta.personifycloud.com/webfiles/productfiles/... · Joomla † Free for a month, then paid † Originally focused as a

Blogging for BusinessSocial Media Series: Part 3 of 4

ILTA Webinars

Natalie Alesi@[email protected]/in/[email protected]

Session Hashtag #ilta

Kraft & Kennedy, Inc. Developed for ILTA Webinar Series www.kraftkennedy.com


What are we going to talk about?Blogging for Business

Law firms, lawyers and clients

ARE USING BLOGS!

raising brand awareness, establishing expertise, and

business development.



How do I…

…create and maintain a blog ‘community’

for my firm or practice?





Blogging Platforms


Determining the platform: Know the goal and audience of your blog.Know who and how it will be maintained.


Platforms• WordPress• Blogger (Google)• Tumbler (Yahoo)• LexBlog• Justia• Joomla/Drupal

About PlatformsHosted vs Non-Hosted

WordPress• Free with costs to upgrade 2 versions

• Yourname.wordpress.com domains with limited customization (or pay to use your own domain)

• .org version allows hosting WordPress on your own servers with lots of control and customization

• Most popular platform• Powers 18.9% of the Web with over 46 m

downloads• Used for Content Management Systems• Allows for easy customization and lots of

plugins• Can be overwhelming if you don’t know what

you’re doing

Blogger• Completely Free• Requires Google account• Easy configuration with Feedburner• Easy to get started, but also tied to Google• Not as robust as WordPress but good for

newbies• Customization is ok if you know HTML code



LexBlog• Paid• Founded in 2003 with over 8000

authors• Specifically tied to legal with various

platforms to use• Focus on firm size

[Stat] Nearly 45% of AmLaw 200 firms have blogs

• Turnkey blog solutions

Justia• Paid• Specifically tied to legal• Video and audio podcasting services• Content writing services• SEO




Drupal• Free then paid• Originally focused as a CMS• Very robust for creating corporate

websites, forums and eCommercesites

• More difficult to navigate and must be tech savvy pro blogger



Joomla• Free for a month, then paid• Originally focused as a CMS• Very robust for creating corporate

websites, forums and eCommercesites

• Most expensive platform



Subscribing via RSS FeedsMake sure your blog contains an RSS Feed


Browser Addons• RSS Feed Reader

| Chrome• Feedly | FireFox• Feed Button |

Internet Explorer

Popular Others• Outlook | RSS Feeds• Google Reader – died


Google AnalyticsSet up Google Analytics for Your Blog


Monitor and Provides Insight• Reports

• Audience• Engagement


How Do I know What to Blog About?Use OneNote as an Idea Blog Taker


Ideas• Search the Socials• Search other industry and practice posts• Search the Journals• Passionate about• Target Audience Interest



Blogging Stats


• 79% of companies who have a blog report a positive ROI for inbound marketing this year, compared with just 20% of those companies that do not have a blog.

• 82% of marketers who blog on a daily basis acquired a customer using their blog, as opposed to 57% of marketers who just blog monthly.

• 43% of all marketers have found a customer on LinkedIn in 2013 so far.

• 36% of all marketers have found a customer on Twitter in 2013 so far.

• Approximately 46% of online users rely on social media, when they make a buying decision.

- Hubspot 2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report


Statistics 2013



• 27 percent of U.S. law firms now have blogs, nearly double the number from 2010;

• 59 percent maintain a presence on one or more social media networks, more than triple the 17 percent number of 2010

• 19 percent of lawyers say that clients reported retaining them because of social media connections (compared to 12 percent just 2 years ago).

-ABA Technology Survey

Statistics on Legal Blogs - 2013


Source: Digital Insights













Creating Engagement with Your Blog



• Start with topics you really want to me know for: key phrases and topics critical to your firm or practice

• Research those keywords or key phrases that prospective clients would use (here’s a thought…interview them!)

• Optimize your blog post headline and the URLs – KEY for the post getting shared and shared frequently

• 9 Top Questions to Ask Your Lawyer vs Lawyers: Top Questions to Ask When Hiring a Lawyer (experiment and test)

• Edit the URL of the blog post to include key words with dashes [myfirm.com/blog/lawyer-questions]


SEO and Blogs



Designing for Mobility


Part 2 Recap:1. Build Community

2. Know the social cocktail mix for your firm


LINKEDIN









Ask Your Audience to Connect and Share


Blog

Ask for them.Interact with the audience.

Ask questions in your posts, title a post with a question!Provoke them – agree or disagree?

Make next posts stream of conversation from previous post comments, use a commenter in a blog post (with permission).

Give love to get love.

Comments

Yes? No?


Know your target audience interests Set goals for your blog and blog posts Choose the platform that is best suited for your firm/practice Establish RSS Feeds for the blog Set up Google Analytics for your blog to help monitor Establish a content calendar Choose the right lawyers and employees to blog SEO your blog posts Monitor your blog for comments and respond promptly Be CONSISTENT! Share your blog content, but don’t over share


Blogging for Business

Natalie Alesi@[email protected]/in/[email protected]

Join us for Social Media Series Part 4 February 12 at 12 pm ET

Social Media: Managing Social Media on Multiple Platforms and Planning for eDiscovery

Previous Webinar Recordings: • Part 1 | Determining a Platform to Fit Your

Goals• Part 2 | Creating Community and Engagement

on Your Platform

Natalie Alesi Blogging for Business Social Media Series ...ilta.personifycloud.com/webfiles/productfiles/... · Joomla † Free for a month, then paid † Originally focused as a

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