Early adopters in blogging had a good run. We received a lot of attention and a nice flow of business for being out there in 2004 authoring a "weblog." Some, like Ana Marie Cox who headed Gawker's "Wonkette," became famous and had their ticket punched wherever they wanted. (Cox is now at THE GUARDIAN).
But then, well, everything changed. Digital became saturated with blogs. Plenty of resources were invested in brandname blog sites such as Abovethelaw.com and Businessinsider.com. The early adopters who continued to post solo lost their automatic hold on attention and had to do more than blog to pull in business.
Blogging, though, is still an effective as well as cost-efficient business tool. When linked to your website, Facebook, Twitter, LindedIn and other digital whatever the posts have a shot at going viral. You never know when a topic will catch fire. That's assuming that you have your search engine optimization (SEO) down cold. Also, without it it's difficult to become part of the conversation. Attach an online video and the odds are good that your post will rank high on search engines. Research confirms that. Google, for instance, has configured an algorithm for giving preference to text accompanied by video. In addition, having a blog sends the signal to the world, including your clients and customers, that you care enough about them to communicate with them.
One hidden benefit, which Aon lawyer and former Jones Day partner Mark Herrmann points out, is that the process of organizing our thinking well enough to put it out there in a post can improve our professional performance. In his newest book "Inside Straight" - which you can order here - Herrmann speculates that blogging made him a better lawyer and doubts if he nailed down any new business through it. Currently, in addition to his day job at Aon he blogs on Abovethelaw.com.
In short, blogging is a medium to consider as part of our promotional tactics. Also, not having a blog can be interpreted as a negative. That said, it's an individual decision if you want to invest your "sweat equity" in blogging, given that there are so many options for promoting ourselves on the web and mobile.
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