Guest post from: Jennifer Laviano
There is no way to describe how much blogging has changed the way I practice law. When I first met Grant, who did an amazing job creating my site Special Ed Justice, he gave me a number of “tips.” I remember him telling me that, within a short period of time after getting a successful blog up and running, I would be getting a lot of new clients from my blog. I sort of believed him, since he’d come highly recommended, and let’s face it, that’s part of why lawyers blog. But I also appreciated that he was completely “on board” with my vision of using the forum of blogging to spread much-needed information to parents of children with special needs, regardless of whether they ultimately became my clients. My thought was to use my many years of experience of representing children with disabilities to “spread the word” about their rights. And hey, if this also generated some business, I certainly wouldn’t object.
What I did not realize then was how much blogging would improve my practice.
How?
To start with, my blog doesn’t just bring in business, it brings in better business. What I mean by this is that by the time a prospective client speaks with me, if they have reviewed the blog, they have a very clear idea of who I am, what I stand for, and the experience I have based on having read my blog posts. This helps them to make a decision as to whether my personality and style fit with their goals, before they even call me. It’s very nice for me to know that a parent who has reviewed my blog already understands, and appreciates, my method. They have gotten a sense of how I differ from other attorneys in this field with whom they might have spoken.
But here’s where I was just shocked by the benefits of having a blog…it actually saves a tremendous amount of my time, and my clients’ money, because I can direct families to posts that are relevant to their circumstances, without them having to be charged for my time to do it. This makes them happy, and makes me feel like I an providing a better service to my clients. I can direct them to the part of my site that warns of the top biggest mistakes they might make; I can suggest they read a recent blog post on cases that might influence the outcome of their case; and I can help them understand the process in a way that, hopefully, eventually gets them to the place where they need me any more.
If you’re going to go to the trouble of writing and maintaining a blog, make sure that you are writing about topics that your clients care about, and which answer common questions which you hear. You will be helping people get the answers they need, yes, but even better…you might just save yourself from answering the same exact question 500 times!
Jennifer Laviano is an attorney practicing in the state of Connecticut. She focuses on Special Education Law and blogs at Connecticut Education Lawyer.
