At first glance, these two things may not seem connected.
However, when you remember that post it notes were only created by Dr Spencer Silver when he was trying to create a very strong adhesive but created a very weak one, allowing it to be attached to surfaces then removed, the history of blogging is not too dissimilar.
At first, a web log, shortened to blog, was a method for someone to communicate their views on a specific topic.
The first blogs were in the 1990s but it wasn’t really until the late 90’s and early 2000’s that blogging took off. Initially it was difficult to publish your thoughts on your specialist topic, but realising this growing phenomenon of blogging, platforms such as Typepad and WordPress came along, making it very easy to put down your thoughts on to your blog.
WordPress has since expanded to become most people’s preference for designing your entire website (mine too as it does not tie you to a content management system which you can never leave – do not do that if you are looking for a new website), but blogging remains a core part of a WordPress platform.
In the legal sector, specifically law firm blogs, blog topics can include law firm’s opinions on topical legal issues and articles about legal services. Articles are very much not the original intention of a blog (like the post it note glue), but, for my part, bearing in mind that my aim is to win solicitors new clients and for this to happen as easily as possible, it is the writing of articles that can have the most dramatic impact in terms of new enquiries for your services.
Therefore, when I talk about blogs for solicitors, I am talking about writing articles for your website that answer the questions your ideal prospects are asking at the precise moment in time that they are just about to choose a solicitor.
When you do this, and do it consistently, you create an incredibly powerful (and largely automated) marketing resource for your law firm.
I will cover how you can come up with these article ideas and how to write them over the course of the next few blog posts and articles.
However, before I can do that, I must explain something which causes a vast amount of confusion for solicitors.
What is the purpose of a blog for a law firm?
I need to explain this point to ensure that you do not make the mistakes that so many solicitors do make, which can render your blog virtually useless against its objective of winning you new clients.
When you completely understand this, as you will do next week, it will make your blog so very much more effective.
Come back next week and let’s make your blog much more successful.