Hello, PP.   As you can see above, I can’t read your pointer information.  Please try again.

Carolyn,  I’m very grateful that you so often take the time to add your perspective to this website.  Here’s why I’m a bit skeptical about the use of a “typical” lawyer weblog as an education tool for the public:

If you’re a layperson interested in a particular field of law, such as divorce, you probably have a particular problem/issue in mind.  What’s the chance that even a topic-appropriate weblog will be covering that issue in any depth at the same time that the consumer is heading to the site? 
Unless the site has a very good search function or category system, the consumer very often would be better off learning a few basic research tools, or checking to see if there’s a helpful self-help center online for his/her state.

I’m not sure the audience is there for specialty-specific weblogs, but if it is, the weblogs are going to need jurisdiction-specific, in-depth resources, and easily searchable, for most consumers to find the site “useful”.  To turn a consumer into a consistent, repeat visitor will take a lot of marketing prowess.
Which reminds me, I forgot to mention in the main posting just how little I care for the whole notion of search engine optimization.  Indeed, I hope the major search engine soon figure out how to defeat all such “placement” ploys. 
 

David:

Enjoyed the post - I have two points on the value of blogs for education and marketing, discussed below.
As to education, I think I tend to agree somewhat with Kevin in that even mass produced “Mc-Blogs” can educate the public by providing information to consumers. Think, for example, if divorce attorneys in every jurisdiction ran a blog, just basically posting brief case summaries or links to articles which show how assets are divided, criteria judges examined in awarding custody or evaluating mediation vs. arbitration - the public would learn so much more about the legal process. For all the legal websites and resources on line already, much is still very general and not jurisdiction or statute specific. Weblogs enable - and make it worthwhile to delve into that level of detail.
As to marketing, here I will show that I can be as skeptical as you! If you read my recent piece on blogs in law.com (link is here - http://myshingle.com/article.pl?sid=04/01/29/0531218&mode=thread), I don’t believe that blogs serve as a marketing tool anymore than printing business cards. In other words, just because a lawyer prints up business cards, doesn’t mean he or she is going to get clients and just because a lawyer runs a blog, it doesn’t mean that clients will find, retain or decide to hire that lawyer. But…blogs are all part of the marketing puzzle - when lawyers start a blog with a personality and a voice, they get exposure which leads to quotes or articles in the media which leads to opportunities to “show off” to prospects by sending those articles as part of a marketing package. Or maybe someone will see the article you’ve been quoted in as a result of a journalist finding you via the blog. But despite what blog marketers may say, there’s no way that blogs are generating business for lawyers nor have I seen or heard evidence of clients finding a lawyer by virtue of coming across a blog.

>>If “weblog” starts to mean any website using that particular platform — without having the intense personal input of the “editor/publisher” — it won’t be special enough to generate traffic or business, or to create a reputation.<<

I think you are right about this. While out running this morning, I actually worried about creating too much of a turn key solution for lawyers - one that would not have the personal input of the blog publisher.

My goal is to empower lawyers - give them tools, give them knowledge and feed them with resources to get their blog platform seeded. If I continue to help lawyers like this I believe I can get a good number enjoying the process of blog publishing and the results that will be forthcoming.

And for some lawyers they are going to want to be a news-wire, if you will, on a niche topic or area. If they do not some help maintaining such a filter for information on the topic, we’ll help them out.

- Kevin

Thanks for responding so thoughtfully and quickly, Kevin. I share in a lot of your ideas about helping to inform the public and clients. But, I’m not sure that a weblog is a useful educational tool without a major Resources section (like at this site).

If “weblog” starts to mean any website using that particular platform — without having the intense personal input of the “editor/publisher” — it won’t be special enough to generate traffic or business, or to create a reputation.

Your points are well taken David. But there is no right way or wrong way to define a blog. They mean different things to different people. I do agree they need to have personal input from the ‘blogger’ to be effective.

My goal is to empower lawyers - to provide them a platform which they will learn to use to publish to the net and interact with people who may come to their blog. By doing so I hope to get helpful legal information out to ordinary people, who God knows need help. I also hope to provide good lawyers an opportunity to market themselves by distinguishing themselves from other lawyers. There are good lawyers on main streets across our country who charge a reasonable fee for their service. Why not try to help these lawyers help folks faced with a legal situation?

Lawyer Web sites have failed the public and lawyers. Two thirds of people coming to a lawyer Web site are looking for legal information first and after understanding a little about the legal issue facing them are ready to hire a lawyer. Lawyers do not put up info to help people on their Web sites - one because it is too darn hard for them to do so with a Web site and two because they have little guidance as to what to put on their site. Web developers do a lawyer’s Web site, hand it to the lawyer and wish them luck. Those Web developers could care less how helpful that site is to ordinary people needing legal information. The result is that the sites do not work well for marketing of the lawyer’s services.

Now what if we used a blog that made it easy for the lawyer to post content? What if someone were standing behind the lawyer helping them understand what to put on their blog? What if someone could help supply consumer friendly content for one category of blog posts? What if a lawyers analysis and commentary in their blog allowed people to conclude a lawyer looked pretty good and may be able to help them out?

Lawyers need some help with how to use the net - how they can present helpful information to people, how they can share what they know, how they can show a personal side of themselves while still being professional. I think I can help lawyers - not become ‘absentee bloggers’ - but to become effective in using perhaps the best marketing medium ever to help ordinary people and turn help themselves by doing so.

Let’s not limit the definition of blogging - let’s embrace this wonderful personal publishing platform to see where it can take us.