Pyramid of Success: Three Blogging Tips

 

Blogging remains the preferred publication method for solo and small firm lawyers dedicated to content marketing. Of course, that singular dedication does not mean that everybody’s getting it right. Here are three simple tweaks that you can make to your blogging, to become even more certain that you’re not one of the ones who are doing it wrong:
–Inverted Pyramid. There have been many purported success pyramids (John Wooden’s, Ron Swanson’s); but, one of the most long-standing has been the ‘inverted pyramid’ — an old journalism trick that, essentially, prevents you from burying the lead. Modern, everyday readers are online, they’re skimmers and they decide whether or not to continue reading after the first one, two or three lines; therefore, it’s essential to get your main point across in that frame. Since most blog platforms offer a scroll of posts with a line or two or three snippet from each, getting right down to it will also allow your system to default to your lead in the main, or archive, view of your blog. (Certain systems will allow you to select which snippets to publish as previews; but, you can save time by appending you abstract to the head of your post.)
–Title Insurance. Think of the ways that potential clients and referral sources find lawyers online: (1) They’ve heard of you and type in your name and/or location. Own that search. (2) They have a question and append a geographic location to it. Meet that expectation. Title your blog posts in such a way that your titles will meet your potential clients’ and referral sources’ search criteria. I think Hingham attorney Leanna Hamill generally does an excellent job with this. Here are some suggestions from an SEO perspective.
–Picture This. The modern, daily reader likes pictures. People don’t have time for things like words anymore; so, hook them with a picture instead. Most of the popular blogging sites now have prominent images featured at each post. Heck, BuzzFeed bases its entire structure on the concept. You can use plug-ins, like Zemanta, to add public domain images to your posts. Your images will also make for nice thumbnails when you repost to social media services.
Disclaimer. Don’t read the rest of this blog. I never follow any of these suggestions; but, I believe it was Jesus who once said: ‘Do as I say, not as I do’.
This post originally appeared in the Massachusetts Bar Association’s eJournal.