Kevin O’Keefe, who (as he likes to say) has some skin in this race, takes issue with the New York Times (who doesn’t?) at Real Lawyers Have Blogs.  It seems that writer Marci Alboher, after  writing that blogs are a great marketing tool for lawyers, which Kevin liked a lot, went a spoiled the mood by  posting that blogging takes a lot of work.  This made Kevin sad.

Hence, the latest salvo from Kevin was that Marci “exaggerated” the effort needed to produce a good blawg.  I’m with Kevin, and Marci used to be smart and good-looking but now is an evil woman.  Not only is blogging (Kevin hates the new-fangled specialty word “blawg” for law blogs, so I’m going with Kevin’s version) easy, but it’s fun to do!

A Harvard Business School newsletter talked of one post a week for a business blog. I preach that with LexBlog’s hundreds of lawyer clients who are blogging. I also tell them to try get their blog posts down to half hour or so. Many spend more time, but that’s because they are enjoying the process and growing their network and business as a result of their blogging.

A half hour once a week.  That’s all it takes.  And you too can be a blogger (note spelling).  It’s kinda like those thigh-buster things that Suzanne Summers hawked on late night TV that only took a half hour once a week and you too can get a role on a sitcom. 

Well, maybe it takes a little more than that.  See, here’s the rub.  If you are blawging (oops, spelling relapse) as an outlet to express your views on subjects that interest you, then you really don’t do it to promote yourself or your law practice, and neither “rules” nor hits drive you.  But if your purpose is to market, then there’s a catch.

If you post once a week, nobody will notice.  If you post nothing of substance, then nobody will ever return.  If you simply replicate some bit of news or someone else’s post and call it your own, then there’s no reason for you to bother.  No one is going to pay attention to your blog if you give them no reason to do so.

Time is a commodity.  We all have things to do, and reading blawgs isn’t always the most important thing on our list.  Sure, plenty of people enjoy reading blawgs, and find it an excellent way to keep abreast of news and commentary, but why would these people spend their time checking out a blog that posts sporadically or has nothing to add to the conversation? 

There are a number of blawgs around the practical blawgosphere that I really enjoy, but don’t post regularly.  I’m sorry to say that they fall off my list of daily reads because of this.  I go back to those blawgs that I find interesting and have something new on a regular basis.  It’s just a matter of the allocation of scarce resources, time.

I realize that everyone doesn’t post with the “alarming” frequency that I do.  For me, this not only comes very easily, but I enjoy writing very much.  I would do this even if there was no such thing as blawgs (and I did for many years, ghostwriting op-eds and letter to the editor for others).  In the same half hour that somebody not inclined toward writing will create a single post, I can do a half dozen. 

But that’s me, and means nothing for you.  If this doesn’t come easily to you, or doesn’t fill a desire to express views, then this is tedious.  I can’t imagine a day when there isn’t something that I want to write about.  The news is filled with matters of consequence, and a news-junkie like me can’t stop his dancing fingers from putting words to computer screen.  Whether the words are any good is a subject for debate, but it fulfills my purposes and apparently there are a bunch of people who come back here regularly to read what I write, whether because they agree or just want to rubber-neck my personal car crash.

If you want to make a dent in the blawgosphere, you’re going to need to put in some effort.  Not just the effort of producing content, but content that someone else will care enough about to look at and content that appears with sufficient regularity that people will come back to see what you have to say. 

Once a week is not going to cut it if you want people to read your stuff and pay attention to you.  You then become relegated to the trash heap of lawyers trying to establish an obvious marketing presence on the internet by doing the bare minimum to pretend that you have something meaningful to say.  No one is fooled by this, and no one will bother coming back for a second look.  Worse still, you brand yourself as self-promoter, attempting to weasel in to the blawgosphere without having the goods to justify your bandwidth.  Once that happens, the chances of anyone taking you seriously are over.

The blawgosphere can be a tough neighborhood.  It rewards those who consistently provide worthwhile content, but those who try to play it for self-aggrandizement are quickly branded as worthless and will soon find that they wasted their time and money.  If you really are a lawyer with something to add to the conversation, then why would you even consider trying to game the blawgosphere with a post once a week in orde to pretend that you’re a blogger?  Why bother?  Because you’re “too busy?”  Nonsense.  Busy people find time to do whatever they need to do.  If you’re that busy, then you’re probably not as good at what you do as you think. 

So Kevin is absolutely right.  Blogging is easy.  And the blawgosphere will let you know whether you will survive.  And if you need a good example of content that keeps readers coming back, read Kevin’s blog, Real Lawyers Have Blogs.  You know that he does a little more than put up one post a week.  Kevin knows what he’s doing.