Jay Fleischman is one of those guys that just gets it. Jay publishes a great blog called Bankruptcy Practice Pro where he provides some wonderful information about managing and marketing a law practice. He is also one of the individuals behind the very successful Bankruptcy Law Network.

Recently, Jay had a post called “The Awful Truth About Paid Online Marketing“ where he has the nerve to tell us the nasty secret about pay-per-click advertising - it simply doesn’t work as well as you may think. To back up his position, he mentions a study called Banner Blindness.

What is banner blindness? According to our friends at Wikipedia, it is “a usability phenomenon in which a website visitor completely overlooks a banner. Such a banner may either be an advertising banner from an external site, or a banner that the serving site intends to use to promote content or a navigation link.”

Jay goes on to point out what I have been saying for some time, content is what will keep your readers Provide good content and you will get readers. You will get noticed and you will get what makes blogging great, incoming links. If there is one thing you must remember, content is king. You must provide good, up to date, relevant content.

Great heads up from Kevin O’Keefe today about why blogs are good.

Lifted this list of 16 reasons why blogs are good from Dave Harrison at WaveneyAvenue.

• Freedom of speech
• Power of the pen
• Reaching the public
• Raising awareness
• A global discussion
• The power of many
• The speed of change
• Interaction
• Instant news and opinions
• Coverups are uncovered
• Easier to research an issue
• Viral ideas
• Created a new world
• Government-influenced media bypassed
• No central control
• It gets you thinking

List starts off with all the trappings of free speech under our First Amendment - from a guy from Northern Ireland no less.

Source for Post: Real Lawyers :: Have Blogs.

Darren Rowse at the ProBlogger had a post today called “Respond to Comments on Your Blog.” And it reminded me just how important such a practice is to blogging. And how this is just one more example of how blogging is so much different than a static website.

I have mentioned many times how blogging is a conversation, a communication and a different way to talk to others. Including our clients, our market and others in our particular field.

Commenting on other blogs and commenting to comments left on our own blog is just one example of how we keep that conversation and communication channel open. Don’t overlook this “most basic skills that any blogger should spend time working on.”

Another practice I do and one mentioned on Darren’s post is, click on the link created by those comments who provide their URL. I click on them so I can see what the person‘s blog or website might be. And if it is a blog and I like what they are doing, I might add them to my RSS reader. Just another example of how commenting can actually increase the traffic for the person commenting.

And don’t overlook the importance of leaving a comment on their blog. Traffic becomes traffic becomes traffic.

Recently, the American Bar Association released its 2007 Legal Technology Survey Report. You can buy it, but I wouldn’t for what they are asking for it. You can get a summary of the survey from Amy Campbell’s Web Log, which will cost you nothing.

Amy, points out an interesting bit of information from the report:

According to the ABA survey, even though it is recognized that blogs can be a great marketing tool, they are “not catching fire just yet.” Only 5% of firms (responding) produce a blog. And as awareness tools, blogs are still underutilized: more than 50% of respondents never use blogs for current awareness of current events, 22% use blogs less than once a month, 12% use them 1 to 3 times a month, and 12% once or more a week.

She went on to state that she is not surprised by the ABA findings as law firms and attorneys are slow to adopt these types of technologies.

While I am sold on the benefits of blogging, lawyers as a group tend to be more cautious and risk averse. Similarly, the term and concept of RSS feeds is difficult for most people understand. And, RSS takes that little bit of extra time to set up and understand, that frankly, most busy professionals just don’t have.

Amy further points out that:

using RSS feeds and aggregators is even less common and less understood. 83% of respondents never use RSS (syndicated news feeds), and only 5% use them use them one or more times a week. Ikens reports that this low usage could be a matter of terminology as those who use tools such as MyYahoo! or iGoogle may not know they are using RSS feeds.

And I would agree that all of this just shows there is a great potential for growth. Firms who are publishing a practice area blog or firm blog can separate themselves from the rest. Starting a well designed, well maintained and regularly updated blog will position you as an expert in that area of the law. It is a wonderful tool for promoting your firm as Michael and I have both done with our Family Law Blogs. And best of all, you are providing a valuable service to your readers and to the public in general. You are providing value by providing information. And you are providing that information for free. Which may be why I personally see the solo and small firms jumping on blogging faster than “big law”. Not only are solos and small firms quicker to adopt new technologies, we tend to be more open to the idea of providing this type of value for free. And best of all, the type of marketing will bring in business.

Thanks to Legal Blog Watch for the heads up on the Report and Amy’s great summary of the Report.

Jamie Spencer is at it again. Jamie publishes a great blog called, Austin DWI Lawyer & Attorney. And best of all, Jamie just gets it. He understands that publishing a niche blog will get you noticed and in return, get you clients. He also understands what makes a blogger an even better blogger. In his recent post, Reading Blogs is Fundamental (or How to Write a Blog), Jamie hits on a very key point of blogging, read other blogs in your practice area. Not only will it help you to be better informed, it will actually show you how other experienced bloggers write their post. Writing for a blog is different than anything else. As Jamie points out:

Blogs are written differently than novels, short stories, biographies, historical fiction, technical writing, etc. Blogs are written differently than anything else. So the best way to learn to blog is to read blogs.

But, don’t just read other blogs. Get involved in the conversation. “Blogs provide the perfect medium for an exchange of ideas.” Which is the huge advantage blogs have over other marketing media, i.e. yellow pages, static websites. Get involved in the conversation and you will get noticed. Post about another blogs post, do a trackback, and you will get noticed. Comment on those other blogs too. All of this is part of the interaction and conversation that takes place with blogging. And that is really the key to turning a new blog into a successful blog. Take this post for example, not only did I do this post, I commented on Jamie’s post and provided a trackback to his post from my own post. Get involved in the conversation.