Technology in Marketing: Developing a Team-Authored Blog

It's well-established that blogs are a great way for lawyers to promote their expertise, develop thought leadership, and create keyword-rich content for search engines. At the same time, publishing a blog can be time-consuming for an individual attorney when done right. That commitment often scares lawyers away from launching a new blog on a solo basis.

One solution: Publish a blog in collaboration with other attorneys in the same practice area. But managing a law firm blog with multiple attorney contributors can pose challenges. To maximize the likelihood of success with a multi-author blog, consider the following tactics recommended by MarketingSherpa (tailored to apply to the legal industry):

Step One: Define a Niche

“In niches there are riches” is a truism that applies to blogs.The more targeted a blog's focus, the easier it typically is to rank higher in Google search results for chosen keywords. The reason is simple: The competition is typically lower, often significantly so. Therefore, the first step is to define the blog's niche, for example, educating readers about new developments and trends in the field of Brownfields litigation. Or, as another example, real estate trends in Chicago.

Step Two: Develop Keyword Lists

Develop a list of your key target audiences in your niche ' e.g., developers, contractors, brokers, etc., in the Chicago real estate market ' and then identify the different keywords and phrases used by each group to describe their legal needs. Alternatively, you might develop keyword lists associated with major sectors in a particular industry such as healthcare, industrial, residential, etc., properties in the real estate market in a city like Chicago.

Step Three: Create an Editorial Calendar

With keyword lists established, create a full-year editorial calendar to ensure that the blog's content will cover all phrases on the lists. The editorial calendar should assign a different market sector or audience to each week's post(s). For example, for a local real estate blog, one week would cover healthcare, the next would cover industrial, and so forth. Next, map out specific topics to cover within those sector categories. For example, if several posts on healthcare-related real estate in Chicago is planned for during the year, break down the subject into more granular topics, such as hospital contruction, medical practice leases, etc.

However, despite a calendar, remember to maintain the flexibility to swap out a scheduled blog post if there is a piece of breaking news that needs to be covered on a priority basis.

Step Four: Enlist Lawyers As Blog Authors

Dividing up blog posting responsibilities among multiple attorneys lessens the burden on any one person to provide posts each week, and creates a natural diversity in phrasing and word use (resulting in better search-optimized content). Just don't force lawyers to publish; instead seek volunteers. Then let those lawyers who volunteer review the editorial calendar and decide which topics they want to cover.

Step Five: Provide Writing Guidelines

Remind attorneys that the blog is a firm communication that requires a certain level of professionalism, but without losing the casaul touch that often makes blogs such appealing reads. Establish a target word length for each blog post (500 words is a good number). Lawyers may also need to be reminded not to create whitepaper-length articles, but rather to craft bite-sized chunks of useful legal information that demonstrates the firm's expertise.

Step Six: Set Generous Deadlines

Because attorneys chose their own topics, they know well in advance when blog posts are due. Still, formal deadlines help accommodate the editing process.

Step Seven: Use an Editor

Assign one lawyer the role of editor to review all posts for compliance with the guidelines and effective execution of the SEO strategy (e.g., composing appropriate meta title and description tags). An editor might also be tasked with the role of vetting posts before publishing to ensure they don't prejudice an existing firm client in any way. After appropriate review of any changes with post authors, the editor can approve posts for publication. Over time, the blogging team should try and document how long it takes to get a post from initial drafting to publication in order to identify any “bottlenecks” that might be slowing down the process.

Step Eight: Share with Contributing Lawyers

Incentivize attorneys by providing them with a byline for all posts, notifying them of any comments requiring response, and providing recognition for popular posts in an internal firm e-mail newsletter.

Conclusion

In the end, getting a multi-attorney blog up and running, and successfully maintaining it, takes time and effort. But following the above step-by-step guidelines can help facilitate the process.

Joshua Fruchter, Esq., is a former attorney and is now principal of eLawMarketing, an Internet marketing agency.

It's well-established that blogs are a great way for lawyers to promote their expertise, develop thought leadership, and create keyword-rich content for search engines. At the same time, publishing a blog can be time-consuming for an individual attorney when done right. That commitment often scares lawyers away from launching a new blog on a solo basis.

One solution: Publish a blog in collaboration with other attorneys in the same practice area. But managing a law firm blog with multiple attorney contributors can pose challenges. To maximize the likelihood of success with a multi-author blog, consider the following tactics recommended by MarketingSherpa (tailored to apply to the legal industry):

Step One: Define a Niche

“In niches there are riches” is a truism that applies to blogs.The more targeted a blog's focus, the easier it typically is to rank higher in Google search results for chosen keywords. The reason is simple: The competition is typically lower, often significantly so. Therefore, the first step is to define the blog's niche, for example, educating readers about new developments and trends in the field of Brownfields litigation. Or, as another example, real estate trends in Chicago.

Step Two: Develop Keyword Lists

Develop a list of your key target audiences in your niche ' e.g., developers, contractors, brokers, etc., in the Chicago real estate market ' and then identify the different keywords and phrases used by each group to describe their legal needs. Alternatively, you might develop keyword lists associated with major sectors in a particular industry such as healthcare, industrial, residential, etc., properties in the real estate market in a city like Chicago.

Step Three: Create an Editorial Calendar

With keyword lists established, create a full-year editorial calendar to ensure that the blog's content will cover all phrases on the lists. The editorial calendar should assign a different market sector or audience to each week's post(s). For example, for a local real estate blog, one week would cover healthcare, the next would cover industrial, and so forth. Next, map out specific topics to cover within those sector categories. For example, if several posts on healthcare-related real estate in Chicago is planned for during the year, break down the subject into more granular topics, such as hospital contruction, medical practice leases, etc.

However, despite a calendar, remember to maintain the flexibility to swap out a scheduled blog post if there is a piece of breaking news that needs to be covered on a priority basis.

Step Four: Enlist Lawyers As Blog Authors

Dividing up blog posting responsibilities among multiple attorneys lessens the burden on any one person to provide posts each week, and creates a natural diversity in phrasing and word use (resulting in better search-optimized content). Just don't force lawyers to publish; instead seek volunteers. Then let those lawyers who volunteer review the editorial calendar and decide which topics they want to cover.

Step Five: Provide Writing Guidelines

Remind attorneys that the blog is a firm communication that requires a certain level of professionalism, but without losing the casaul touch that often makes blogs such appealing reads. Establish a target word length for each blog post (500 words is a good number). Lawyers may also need to be reminded not to create whitepaper-length articles, but rather to craft bite-sized chunks of useful legal information that demonstrates the firm's expertise.

Step Six: Set Generous Deadlines

Because attorneys chose their own topics, they know well in advance when blog posts are due. Still, formal deadlines help accommodate the editing process.

Step Seven: Use an Editor

Assign one lawyer the role of editor to review all posts for compliance with the guidelines and effective execution of the SEO strategy (e.g., composing appropriate meta title and description tags). An editor might also be tasked with the role of vetting posts before publishing to ensure they don't prejudice an existing firm client in any way. After appropriate review of any changes with post authors, the editor can approve posts for publication. Over time, the blogging team should try and document how long it takes to get a post from initial drafting to publication in order to identify any “bottlenecks” that might be slowing down the process.

Step Eight: Share with Contributing Lawyers

Incentivize attorneys by providing them with a byline for all posts, notifying them of any comments requiring response, and providing recognition for popular posts in an internal firm e-mail newsletter.

Conclusion

In the end, getting a multi-attorney blog up and running, and successfully maintaining it, takes time and effort. But following the above step-by-step guidelines can help facilitate the process.

Joshua Fruchter, Esq., is a former attorney and is now principal of eLawMarketing, an Internet marketing agency.