A colleague said this to me as we were riding up an elevator after the MSBA Practice Management & Marketing Section lunch today. I tried to explain, but while my “elevator speech” about my practice is pretty good, I do not have one about blogging. Nevertheless, I will attempt to boil down a complex internet thing to its essential parts.

First and foremost, a blog is simply a website. The difference is in the manner of publishing that website. With a blog, publishing is as simple as drafting an email. With traditional websites, publishing is complicated programmer’s work.

But more than that, a blog is (or can be):

• A search engine magnet
• A way to reach potential clients directly
• Evidence of your expertise
• A path to earned media exposure
• Over time, a database

Of course, a blog can be more or less, depending on the blog and the blogger. It is what you make of it.

A blog is probably the most effective way to drive potential clients to your (virtual) door. Well-written, attractive, and well-configured blogs consistently appear at the top of search engine results, and often result in earned media exposure for the blogger.

What is a blog?

A blog is just a frequently-updated website. It is a simple, easy way of publishing content to the web. Many of the websites you visit every day (CNN and the New York Times, for example) probably have the bones of a blog, but you may not even know it.

Earn great search engine results

Picture your ideal potential client. When faced with a legal problem or a need for legal advice, how will your potential ideal client find a lawyer?

Only a tiny percentage—11% or less—of middle-class Americans use the phone book. Most start with Google.

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