25 blogs to help law firms stay up to speed with social media

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin O'Keefe) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:49:11 GMT

Everything I've learned about blogging and social media, I've learned by reading, talking with people, attending conferences, and, of course, trial and error.

The lions share of my learning has come from reading lots of blogs. Blogs I subscribe to in an RSS reader where I can browse headlines by folders I set up by particular subjects.

Social media, including blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, social networking sites, and hell of a lot more, is hard for me to keep up with. And I'm leading a company that's serving as a social media partner to law firms, not practicing law or running a law firm like you.

So it piqued my interest when Ritu Pant, a web strategist of a couple years, posted a list of 25 blogs to help you stay current with social media on the Freelance Folder blog.

I'm going to use the list to do a better job of staying up to speed with social media news, trends, and ideas. I'll share what I think worthwhile for lawyers and legal professions on my blog and in my Twitter feed.

As a legal professional you may wish to subscribe to the blogs to learn more about how to use social media. You'll always see things I miss.

For those unfamiliar with the power of a RSS reader, here's a list of the 25 blogs in a social media folder in my RSS reader, NetNewsWire. Scanning headlines from these blogs organized by folder so I see the aggregated post titles is the only time effective means of consuming such blog content.

I can't vouch for the list yet, but reviewing the blogs in the list, a number I already subscribed to, and titles of posts from the list, the 25 blogs look pretty good. As with all my subscriptions, I'll fine tune the list cutting some blogs and adding a few more to my social media folder.

Video : Google Reader in Plain English

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin O'Keefe) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:24:01 GMT

Speaking to legal professionals around the country I suggest if you're going to do one thing to get started down the road to social media that you get started with RSS. RSS is the oxygen giving life to content on the net.

And it's your RSS reader which allows you to receive content, whether by source (blogs and news sites) or by subject (subscribing to keywords at Google News or Google Blog Search).

The RSS reader of choice for LexBlog bloggers, and I suspect the majority of the net, is Google Reader. Here's a short video done by Seattle's Common Craft explaining how to use Google Reader.

Circulation drop at major US newspapers is opportunity for law bloggers

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin O'Keefe) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:25:16 GMT

Circulation declines are accelerating at America's major newspapers, with all but two of the 25 largest U.S. showing declines for the last six months. This per the Wall Street Journal's Russel Adams this morning.

Weekday circulation at 507 newspapers fell 4.6%..., compared with a 2.6% decline in the same period a year earlier, according to figures released on Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Sunday circulation fell 4.9% for the latest period, compared with a 3.5% decline in Sunday circulation reported a year earlier......Sunday circulation, often seen as the best indicator of a newspaper's health, fell faster than it did during the week. The Houston Chronicle's Sunday circulation declined 15.7%, followed by the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., and the Philadelphia Inquirer, where Sunday circulation declined 14.7% and 13.8%, respectively.

This represents a golden opportunity for lawyers and law firms publishing blogs. Newspapers are no longer going to have the resources to cover the stories they have. This includes not only regular legal news, but also the general legal information columns. In addition newspaper reporters have not a clue how to become relevant to bloggers, something that brings increased online newspaper readership when bloggers link to newspaper stories.

Help them out guys. You're producing good legal content. Let your newspaper know you'd be happy to share a weekly or monthly column from your blog. A well done blog covering a niche for your metro or state gives you instant credibility with newspaper editors. That's a huge edge over your competitors stuck in the printed newsletter world who are pitching through expensive PR people.

Talk to Rush Nigut. Blog posts from his blog, Rush on Business, are being syndicated to the Des Moines paper. It can be done.

You can also lead the newspaper to relevance among the local blogosphere. Newspapers look at blogs as just another publishing platform. Their editors and reporters do not understand that blogs are a conversation where you link to what you see sharing a bit of a news story or blog post and then providing your take. As a result newspapers run in a parallel universe to blogs. Newspapers don't link to blogs, so we don't often link to them.

Start reporting on and linking to newspaper stories in blog posts providing your take just as if you were interviewed. Let the reporter and editor know you shared their story with your blog readers. Let them know you would be happy to get them resources on that subject, even be available for a quote on a moment's notice. You'll become their friend.

Ask the reporters and editors you've got to know this way to lunch or coffee. Explain how blogs work. Review with them how bloggers will share their stories and draw traffic to their stories if the bloggers are cited in the newspaper.

Let them know the newspaper should have blogs that just don't re-hash news. The newspaper's blogs must highlight what local blogs are writing, with the newspaper reporter or columnist then providing their take. That way bloggers start to cite the newspaper columnists and reporters. And that's attention newspapers are starved for, but don't know how to get.

It's a down cycle for newspapers. Take advantage of it.

Your law blog posts get higher profile at Wall Street Journal

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin O'Keefe) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:19:39 GMT

With the redesign of the Wall Street Journal, law blog posts from lawyers around the country are getting higher profile.

Practicing lawyers posting on their blog yesterday received equal billing this morning with stories from The New York Times and Chicago Tribune in the Wall Street Journal's 'Breaking Law Stories from Around the Web.'

Look at the lawyers whose blog posts are included in 'Breaking Law Stories' this morning. Special kudos to LexBlog clients Dan Schwartz of Pullman and Comley, Sean Wajert of Dechert, and John Day of Day & Blair for being included.

And with the Journal's redesign, the 'Breaking Law Stories from Around the Web' is getting higher profile in the Journal's Law section. Expect to see more traffic to your blogs as a result. A post of mine included the Journal's 'Breaking News' this week brought about 100 new visitors to my blog.

Remember when law firms paid LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell to take the law firm's articles so they would be included LexisNexis content available by search at Dow Jones?

You now control your content's own destiny via effective blogging.

Pileggi rocks the Wall Street Journal again

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin O'Keefe) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:35:21 GMT

Okay, Francis Pileggi, a Delaware corporate litigation lawyer, didn't exactly rock the WSJ. But the Journal did pick up another one of his blog posts in it's 'Stories from the Web' in the Law Section of the online Journal.

As an influential law blogger on corporate issues, Pileggi's's blog posts keep popping up all around the net. Ranges from main stream publications like the journal to widely read law blogs published by corporate law professors or corporate lawyers. Great thing it's happening for free and with out any overt effort (except for effective blogging) to push the content on folks.

It's happening via the magic of RSS and the syndication of content. Just like the AP is syndicating general news to newspapers across the country, Pileggi is syndicating corporate law news to major publications and bloggers whose audiences are comprised of readers Pileggi wants to reach.

Here's a screen shot from today's WSJ referencing Pileggi's blog, the subject blog post, a link to his blog, and links to blog posts referencing Pileggi's blog post.

How the heck do you get your content syndicated like this? Effective blogging. Not throwing up content randomly in an attempt to get high search engine rankings, but by engaging in relevant discussion among thought leaders in your field.

And it's within the reach of any of you. You need not be the world's greater writer, know technology like the back of your hand, nor have achieved rock star status in your field already. Blogging with a passion for your niche and a desire to be recognized as a thought leader is all that's required.

Wall Street Journal continues run of syndicated law blog content

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin O'Keefe) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:45:07 GMT

The Wall Street Journal is continuing to run syndicated law blog content in the law section of the online Journal.

Maybe it's just me being from a small town in the Midwest, but I get pretty jazzed seeing people come to my blog from the Journal.

Reach the Law Section of the WSJ by clicking on 'Law' in the news section in the left hand navigation bar. You'll then see a box entitled 'Law Stories from Around the Web.' Click on any of the law stories, most of them law blog posts, to reach a page like that depicted below.

This screenshot was reached by clicking on the WSJ's reference to a story at law.com on 'Social Media Sites and Law Firm Marketing.' I referenced the story in my blog post, 'Lawyers use of LinkedIn,' so the WSJ linked to my post as well.

Note all the law blog posts highlighted and linked to by the Journal. Pretty cool.

Advertising on RSS feeds a plus for lawyer blogs and legal publishing

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin O'Keefe) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:04:48 GMT

Zachary Rodgers on the The ClickZ Network had an interesting piece this week on RSS advertising showing signs of life.

This bodes well for the legal industry, not necessarily with each lawyer picking up a enough in ad revenue for an extra pint a week, but in other respects.

First the key points from Rodgers' article.

34% of global respondents to a March social media survey from Universal McCann said they use RSS feeds, a huge increase from just 15% a year ago.
19% of Americans use RSS feeds. Admittedly less than the RSS-addicted nations, Russia (57%), Brazil (55%) and China (54%).
Gawker Media, one of the more successful blog networks, grew its revenue from feed-driven traffic by 300 percent in Q1 2008.
Gawker now pulls an average CPM of $4 or $5 for its RSS inventory, only little less than they they get on the blog sites themselves.
Some publishers are seeing their page views from RSS nearing the page views of blog and Web sites themselves.
Google's FeedBurner will soon deliver AdSense ads contextual to the subject of the feed in addition to premium CPM ads directly sold onto RSS fee content.

I don't see lawyers needing to run ads on RSS feeds to keep a roof over their head. Some bloggers need to make money in advertising from their blogs. Such bloggers are akin to magazine publishers - ads keep the lights on.

Lawyers do not have to sell ads on their blogs and RSS feeds. Lawyers make money by blogging in an effective manner. Doing so lawyers enhance their reputation as thought leaders, landing business the lawyers want as a result.

But I see three areas where ads on lawyers RSS feeds hold value.

Tasteful, brief ad mentioning that the blog and resulting feed are sponsored by a particular lawyer, law firm, or practice group. Much like an ad you would hear on local NPR radio. Low key for branding purposes.
As revenue for a third party syndicating law blog content to to a lawyer's target audience (clients - current & prospective, bloggers, traditional media - trade & mass). Blogging lawyers will come to understand the tremendous value of such third party publishers aggregating (with editorial review) relevant and timely blog content for delivery of such content to this target audience. Syndicators with significant overhead in people and publishing platforms will need a revenue model. The alternative to ads is charging lawyers.
The cost of maintaining a professional turnkey blog solution required by leading lawyers, law professors, and law students could be supplemented by ad revenue.

As traditional publishers are being pressed by declining distribution and ad revenue, we need to look for new opportunities to generate revenue. With increased use of RSS feeds and more cost effective ways to deliver ads on RSS feeds, maybe there's some opportunities.

Wall Street Journal starts running your syndicated law blog posts

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin O'Keefe) — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:05:43 GMT

If you haven't started noticing traffic coming to your law blog from the Wall Street Journal already, you soon may. I'm already seeing traffic from the WSJ and so are a number of LexBlog clients.

How? The Wall Street Journal is now running in its law section syndicated law blog posts from influential law blogs. You'll see the law blog posts under the headline 'Breaking Law Stories From Around the Web' on the right side of the page as you scroll down.

Click on one of the blog post titles and you'll receive the entry text of the post, a link to the post, and a link to the law blog. You'll also receive links to each of the blog posts which referenced the blog post.

Here's a screen shot from the WSJ highlighting a blog post from LexBlog client Todd Smith that the WSJ pulled in by syndication. You'll then see a couple posts from this blog along with other law blog posts which referenced Todd's original post.

How cool is this? The only thing better than publishing content to your own law blog is having major publications like the WSJ publish your content to their readers.

Law blog posts displayed in LinkedIn home page news

kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin O'Keefe) — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:48:07 GMT

LexBlog client, Vickie Pynchon, publisher of the Settle it Now and the IP ADR blogs asked yesterday why she was getting traffic to particular blog posts of hers from the home page at LinkedIn. She didn't see any of her blog posts displayed on her home page at LinkedIn.

I explained LinkedIn is displaying blog posts from influential blogs in the customized news section on the home page of each LinkedIn user. The blog posts are coming via RSS/synidication and being displayed right along with news from the major news services and publications.

Better yet, the blog content displayed is tailored for the LinkedIn user. If you're publishing a law blog on a particular niche, the content is displayed for people in the relevant industry or who have expressed an interest in that niche based on the person's use of LinkedIn.

I'm also finding significant traffic coming to my blog from LinkedIn users. Last week, three of my blog posts were being run on LinkedIn and displayed for people in the legal, marketing, and PR/communications fields.

Note that I did not see my blog posts displayed at LinkedIn. I saw the referral traffic in my blog stats. I then saw my profile being viewed by people in the above fields. I have to believe it was folks in the legal and marketing fields who saw my blog posts displayed in their custom news.

Here's a screen shot of the news section that's displayed on the home page of each LinkedIn user. My company is LexBlog, thus the display of 'LexBlog. Inc. News.' Your news will be displayed under the name of your firm.

You'll see that there's a field in which you can submit a news story. I have not submitted any of my blog posts, they're being displayed at LinkedIn on their own.

If you're going to be submitting a blog post, make sure it's a good one. Abusing the process may actually hamper getting your blog posts syndicated to LinkedIn.

As more and more major sites display blog posts by syndication it's becoming more and more important for law firms to use blog software for the syndication of their content.

Recent Articles tagged rss & syndication from LexMonitor