NB: This is the 19th installment in The Inspired Solo’s Build a Better Business Blog in One Month series. Designed to help solo lawyers and other professionals boost their blog’s performance, the series consists of a daily lecture and task (or tasks) that focus on one “blog improvement project” at a time. Each post in the series is tagged with “[BBBB1]“. You can start the program at any time. Catch up with other BBBB1 posts here.
Build a Better Business Blog, One Block At a Time
Day 19: Task and Lecture
Today, in the Inspired Solo’s Build a Better Business Blog series, we’re taking a look at forums and message boards, and how they can help drive your traffic.
It’s All About Value Given
To drive traffic to your blog, you need a combination of things working in concert: links coming in from reliable, relevant outside sites; fabulous content on your site; and that mythical intangible quality called “buzz.”
Buzz is driven partially by reputation and partially by the quality you put out in the world, in whatever medium. Of course, the beauty is that the quality then drives the reputation (hopefully upwards to a more positive one). Ergo, “getting your name out there” isn’t enough — you’ve got to get it out there and associate it with quality and valuable insight.
In short: you need to show the world you know what the heck you’re talking about.
Forums and Message Boards Are Excellent Places to Prove Your Worth
The web abounds with message boards and forums where people (your targeted clients) gather to discuss their problems. Why aren’t you there with them?
Please understand: I’m not talking about spamming a board. Nothing will drive your reputation south more quickly than joining a board or website with the intent to send out message after message reading essentially as an advertisement for your office, nothing more.
I’m talking about getting in the conversation — talking to people via messages and posts — answering their questions. Yes, I’m talking about giving the milk away for free.
Not all of it, mind you. You’re not going to go out there and give your potential clients the means and methods to do for themselves what you can do for them. (Actually, there are times when it’s worth your while to do exactly that — I would just do it in email rather than a public forum. But more on that in some other post.)
Instead, you’re going to offer your assistance at the giant virtual cocktail party that is the Internet. You’re going to answer questions that are asked, to which you know the answer. You’re going to be cautious about how you do this. You’re going to let them know your limitations (licensing, for instance). You’re going to give them links and other resources they can look at for further information.
You’re not going to spend more than an hour on this per week. Like Twitter, forums can be a huge time suck. You need to keep your schedule’s needs firmly in mind. Pick and choose the questions you can answer easily, quickly, and accurately. Sympathize with the rest.
One final word: Be compassionate. Be respectful. I’ve seen lots of lawyers, not to pick on them necessarily, who treat “Ask a Lawyer” questioners as morons, frankly. I have to wonder — is this a good marketing technique for them? Do they get clients that way? What kind of clients? I’d be concerned. Maybe your mileage differs.
The Task: Find Two or Three Forums/Message Boards Frequented By Your Targeted Clients
Search Google for your own keywords and keywords related to your profession to find a few good forums and message boards that are good gathering spots for your targeted clients. Take a few minutes to review the activity on the boards — you want something that’s not so big your messages get lost in the shuffle, but something that’s active too. Look specifically at the date of the last messages in the forums and boards. If it was a year ago, move on. Yesterday — sign up!
Pay STRICT attention to the rules of the board. Every board that I’ve ever seen will have them, and they’ll govern how and for what offenses you can be kicked off the board. Make sure you abide by those rules. Frequently, rules will govern the use of signatures for your messages. Within those rules, take advantage of signature blocks. If the rules allow a link to your blog, put it in there — then, everytime you post, the readers of that forum will have that link right there, ready to click.
Keep the guidelines I’ve offered above firmly in mind. Using boards and forums can be an excellent source of business and blog traffic, but it can just as easily backfire if your fellow board members sense you as just another opportunistic lawyer/broker/whatever out to make a buck. Make it clear — by your words and your actions — that you’re there to help, and you’ll do fine.
