As an estate planning lawyer, you’re clued into the latest developments in estate planning and elder law. You consider yourself an expert, and after years of law school and countless hours researching and writing important documents for your clients, you’re probably a pretty good writer, too.

If you’re hoping to expand your client base and get the word out about your practice, then it might be time for you to start a blog. Blogs have multiple personal and social benefits, and can also serve as a forum for you to offer thoughts about matters relevant to current and potential clients. They are a great way to connect with both your online and offline networks.

According to the 2012 LexBlog report, 155 of the nation’s largest law firms now have blogs or lawyers blogging. Those 155 firms produce 633 blogs amongst them. Perhaps most interestingly, firms that had blogs improved their gross earnings in 2011 about $1 million over law firms that didn’t have blogs. And, if that’s just the big firms, then imagine how an active blog might help people in small- to mid-sized practices.

In addition to encouraging personal and professional development, a blog offers the added benefit of directing web traffic to your site and business. Google products provide over 300,000,000 searches daily, and interesting, relevant content comes to the top of those searches. There are a number of ways that a lawyer or firm can optimize content so that it appears higher in search rankings, through search engine optimization (SEO) of keywords and key phrases.

Though maintaining a blog may require time and effort, it is also free advertising and promotion for your firm. There is no requirement that content be limited to updates in the field and recent cases – you can write about anything you deem appropriate, such as firm events, employee profiles and abstracts of recent research papers. You can also post photos and videos, which are ranked more favorably in search engine results.

In January 2010, we launched the Academy blog as a means to help connect with our community of estate planning attorneys by offering interesting, informative content, mixed with doses of humor and wit. Our blog continues to help us connect with our peers across the country. If you are thinking of starting a blog, we advise you to start creating content as soon as you can. Once you start, you’ll wonder why you didn’t begin blogging sooner.

Robert Armstrong
President and Co-Founder
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
9444 Balboa Avenue, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
Phone: (800) 846-1555
www.aaepa.com