This week in Young, Hungry and Committed, virtual office NYC lawyer, Vivian Sobers, explains how easy it is to use social media and a blogging strategy to retain new clients and why you should be doing it right now.
First and foremost, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year. A lot has changed in my professional life over the past year, most of it for the better. One such change is the blog series you are reading now.
I was relatively skeptical about this blog project when Law Firm Suites approached me with the concept. First and foremost, I just did not think my experience was that interesting or valuable to other people. I mean honestly, who was going to read about my life?
I am just a solo attorney who started a practice right after graduation. Where is the value in that?
Writing the blog was not what I expected.
To be frank, I initially thought this blog series was going to be a burden. I would have to come up with content. I would have to take the time to sit down and write the content. Then, I would have to do it all again, every week.
Many of you have read about a typical day in my life. I did not know where I was going to fit blog writing in between my firm administration, client retention and actually practicing law.
In the beginning, the blog was a burden. Trust me, coming up with “fresh content” is really hard.
You have to look at your world objectively and try to find aspects of your practice and experiences that you think other attorneys would find valuable. Each of the first few articles literally took a day to write. I would overanalyze every word, every clause, every metaphor. Even before the first blog was published, I tried to get out of the engagement.
Luckily for me, Law Firm Suites would not let me. I am extremely grateful for them holding my feet to the fire. As it turns out, this blog has become one of my best unintentional marketing campaigns.
People ask me all the time: where do I get my clients from? Lately, many of my new clients have been a direct result of my blog. As such, my time investment has paid off ten times over.
You may be asking yourself: Vivian, how does a blog get you new clients?
I have added the blog into my preexisting social media marketing campaign. My blog is published every Friday afternoon. As soon as it is published, I add the link to my firm’s Facebook page. Then, I pay for Facebook advertising to boost the articles’ reach. (It is really cheap, like $20.00 a week).
I retained a client immediately after the first blog series entry was posted. One of my old colleagues saw my blog article that was re-posted through Facebook. He sent me a private message stating that he really enjoyed reading the article and had a case that might be a good fit for me.
It turned out that it was a really good fit for me. Even better, I made money just for telling my story. It was exhilarating.
Regular blog posts help solo lawyers with search engine optimization.
In addition to the monetary benefits associated with retaining new clients, the blog series has provided my firm increased visibility through search engine optimization (SEO).
For those who may not know, SEO has to do with where your website ranks in search engines when people search online for services you offer. SEO, as I have learned, is a science and a full-time job in itself. Blogging is a way that I can increase my firm’s rank without spending any money. Every time my blog is posted on Law Firm Suites website, it counts as an authoritative backlink, or so I am told. I do not really understand it, but every link someone else makes to my website makes my site more credible and increases the ranking when people search.
The blog series has increased traffic to my website by 120%. That, in and of itself, makes blogging worth the effort. The more people who visit my website, the more potential cases.
Finally, the blog has helped make me more recognizable. Literally, someone came up to me in court last month and asked me if I was Vivian Sobers. At first, I thought it was an adversary. It turned out it was someone who read my blog! Crazy right?
The benefit of being recognized goes well beyond satisfying my ego. I will be top of mind if someone has a case to refer, just like the instance when I was referred a case after publishing my first blog article.
I would advise all of you to start blogging. The time investment is minimal and the results are exponential. It has added a huge boost to my practice and as solo attorneys, we can always use extra income resulting from expending little energy.
My name is Vivian Sobers. I am young, hungry and an accidental blogger. I have weathered one year of challenges in private practice. Despite the challenges that lie ahead, I am committed to replicating my success for many years to come.
Vivian Sobers is a commercial litigator pursuing a solo law practice right out of law school. She is a client in Law Firm Suites’ Virtual Office Program. Vivian’s weekly blog series “Young, Hungry and Committed” documents the trials and tribulations of a young attorney navigating her way through the challenging world of self-employed legal practice.
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