blog for your solo law practiceA blog should be part of a lawyer’s marketing plan

You probably know that you should blog to help promote your solo law practice, but how do you get started? From picking the topic to search engine optimization (SEO), there are plenty of do’s and don’ts.

Here are a few simple steps to help you plan and launch a blog for your solo law practice:

The topic or theme
What’s your focus in your law practice? Hone in on your favorite thing about the kind of law you practice and develop your blog’s theme around that. Writing about not just what you know, but what you like, helps keep it from feeling forced. It will also hold your interest, which in turn will compel you to blog as often as you should.

Just get started
Don’t worry about word counts or even grammar and spelling on your first draft. It’s a first draft for a reason. Just put your thoughts to paper.

SEO and keywords
Look for other blogs by typing in search words that generally interest you. See where they go and how the attached blogs are handled. Look at where and how the keywords are used.

You want to maximize the use of your keywords and other search engine cues, but don’t overdo it. Use the keywords where they make sense in the flow of the text, but don’t drop them in randomly. Known as cramming, overuse of keywords makes your content awkward and less readable – plus you won’t get more hits. Focus on quality first, and the keywords will follow.

Read for clunkers
It may sound silly, but read the corrected draft out loud. How does it flow? Are there any jarring stops and starts? Remember, spell checkers don’t fix missing words or rough sentence structure. This reading is one of your last opportunities to make any corrections or changes before you hit the publish button.

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