Kevin O'Keefe
About The Course
Learn legal blogging from the person and the company that made it what it is today—and has helped a number of lawyers change their careers, and their lives. Taught by Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog, the leading provider of digital publishing solutions to lawyers and law firms, our Blogging for Lawyers course teaches attorneys everything they need to know about starting and running an effective law blog.Whether you’re a solo practitioner, a large-law partner, a just-graduated associate or even a law student, this course will provide you with actionable hands-on guidance on how you can use blogging to chase your passion, build your reputation, become a better lawyer and, most importantly, bring in work.
This course draws on Kevin and LexBlog’s nearly 20 years of experience helping lawyers and law firms build or grow their practice through blogging. That includes partnering with some of the largest law firms in the world on robust digital publishing networks as well as attentively guiding solo lawyers on blogs that saw them bring in millions of dollars of work.
They know what works because they’ve seen what works—and bring that to bear in this course.
What You Will Learn
Following the completion of the course, students who graduate will receive a certificate that they can use on their LinkedIn profile. Alumni will also be able to join a private LinkedIn group to share best practices, ideas and continue their learning.In this seven-session course, attendees will learn:
- Finding a niche and setting a long-term strategy for success
- Getting started and the technology basics
- The fundamentals of writing for online readers
- How to find and decide what to blog on
- How to grow engagement and traction on your blog
- Growing your network and building relationships through content
- The role of analytics in blogging successfully
- What business development success through blogging looks like
Syllabus
Session 1: Setting a long term strategy from the beginning- Passion is key
- Finding a niche
- Look for your audience
- Establish goals
Session 2: Getting started
Session 3: Blogging in a conversational tone
Session 4: Listening tools
Session 5: Marketing your blog
Session 6: Thinking strategically
Session 7: Maintaining momentum
- Blogging platform and why Wordpress is preferred
- Managed platform
- Independent publication site or part of a website?
- Choosing a blog title and domain
- Branding and design
- Group vs. individual blog
- Email notifications
- Growing importance of RSS
- Organizing your blog
- Categories
- Tags
- Promotional pages—About the lawyer, about your services
Session 3: Blogging in a conversational tone
- Writing for online readers
- Posting
- What
- Frequency
- Length of blog post
- Writing for online readers
- Use of images
- Avoid hallmarks of complex legal writing
Session 4: Listening tools
- Why listening (strategically reading) is critical
- Turning what you’re reading into posts
- How such posts look
- Twitter as a listening tool
- Twitter lists
- Using Twitter to network
- RSS readers
- What is a RSS reader (news aggregator)
- Who uses news aggregators
- Feedly is preferable
- What kinds of sources to subscribe to
- That kinds of terms to subscribe to
- Mainstream/digital media as listening tools—how to use what you’re reading in your normal routine for blog posts
Session 5: Marketing your blog
- Low-hanging fruit:
- Using all communications avenues available
- Personally
- Promotion on social
- Being creative:
- Ask for feedback
- Enter the conversation
Session 6: Thinking strategically
- Business development vs. content marketing
- Who do you want to know that you exist? Who do you want to know that your blog exists?
- Relationships through content
- Highlight other’s positive work
- Interview posts
- Answer questions
Session 7: Maintaining momentum
- What success looks like in short and long term
- The role of analytics
- In shaping content
- Noting trends
- Finding a routine
- Having fun
About Your Instructor
Kevin O'Keefe is a trial lawyer, turned legal tech entrepreneur, now leading the largest community of legal publishers in the world at LexBlog, Inc.
A lawyer of 39 years - anting to be a lawyer since he was a kid, Kevin has loved almost every minute of it.
Kevin practiced as a trial lawyer in rural Wisconsin for 17 years, representing plaintiffs, whether they were injury victims and their family members or small businesses.
In the mid-nineties, he discovered the Internet in the form of AOL. He began helping people by answering questions on AOL message boards and leading AOL’s legal community.
Kevin later started his own listservs and message boards to help people on personal injury, medical malpractice, workers compensation and plaintiff’s employment law matters. Though his firm was green to technology and the Internet, USA Today said if they “didn’t stop what we were doing, we would give lawyers a good name.”
A lawyer of 39 years - anting to be a lawyer since he was a kid, Kevin has loved almost every minute of it.
Kevin practiced as a trial lawyer in rural Wisconsin for 17 years, representing plaintiffs, whether they were injury victims and their family members or small businesses.
In the mid-nineties, he discovered the Internet in the form of AOL. He began helping people by answering questions on AOL message boards and leading AOL’s legal community.
Kevin later started his own listservs and message boards to help people on personal injury, medical malpractice, workers compensation and plaintiff’s employment law matters. Though his firm was green to technology and the Internet, USA Today said if they “didn’t stop what we were doing, we would give lawyers a good name.”
