Is Your Written Work Worthy of Being Read?

Blog posts, articles, newsletters, and the like that nobody reads are pretty pointless. That’s why you need 10 Rules for Writing To Be Read, from JD Supra, Knox Design Strategy, and Repechage. Here's one:

“Be Useful. Think, ‘What can the reader do with this information?’”

This post will help you turn your work into something that your audience can – and wants to – read. Print it out. Stick it on the wall beside your computer screen. Then follow the rules, every single time you write. You’ll be glad you did (and so will your readers).

Sharing (Legal Content) Is Caring - Not Giving Away the Store

Adding credible legal information to your blogs and websites isn't giving away the store, writes Susan Kostal, it's demonstrating a true expertise in the law that you practice, it's building trust with the people in a position to hire you, and perhaps most importantly, it's educating the consumers of your products so that they're better able to make informed decisions about the services you offer:

“Information helps consumers and spurs them to act; it doesn’t lead them to think they are experts and that they don’t need to see a professional. They ask better questions and are more engaged in their matter — essentially becoming the most ideal and cost-effective clients possible.”

Read the post. Then start publishing the content your clients and potential clients need.

3 Reasons People Will Read Your Post: The Title, The Title, & The Title

But don't take my word for it. Hear what Adrian Lurssen, co-founder of JD Supra, journalist, and content marketing strategist, has to say:

[Link: How to Write Titles That Get You Noticed and Read]

Watch the clip. Then start writing titles that tell people why they need to read your work.

Are You Writing for a 4th Grader?

Is your work written for 10-year-olds? Maybe it should be: that's the reading-level calculation of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. And it turns out, explains Shane Snow in Why History’s Best Writers Wrote for Middle Schoolers, that writing at a lower reading level gives your content a higher likelihood of reaching more people.

That doesn't mean that you should be writing for children, of course. Instead, you should strive to make the complicated legal and business issues you cover accessible to a broader range of readers:

The other lesson from this study is that we should aim to reduce complexity in our writing as much as possible. We won’t lose credibility by doing so. Our readers will comprehend and retain our ideas more reliably. And we’ll have a higher likelihood of reaching more people.

Read the post. Make your work easier to read. Your readers will thank you.

Tweeting and Blogging and Posting, Oh My! Let The Master Guide You

Whether you're taking tentative first steps on Twitter, or looking for ways to drive readers to your established law blog, you'll find practical pointers for creating and maintaining a valuable online presence in Guy Kawasaki's How to Integrate Social Media and Blogging from The Art of Social Media. Kawasaki's one of the masters of social media marketing, so his post on "us[ing] a blog to enrich your social media ... and ... social media to promote your blog," is full of valuable - and effective - tips for connecting your written work with the people you need to reach:

• If I had a choice between someone following us on a social-media platform or subscribing to our emails, I would pick the an email subscription any day.
• [O]f all content, you should share your own blog posts. If a blog post is not worth sharing, it’s not worth writing.
• Include links to your social-media accounts on your blog so that people can easily follow you. If your blog is interesting, people will follow you on social media, and if your social media is interesting, people will read your blog.

 Read the post. Then get tweeting. And blogging. And posting. Oh my.

Jimmy Fallon + Content Marketing = Watch and Learn

Lawyers can learn a lot about content marketing from Jimmy Fallon, writes Adrian Lurssen in Is Jimmy Fallon the King of Content Marketing?. For starters, Fallon's distribution of his material on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other channels - and the millions of subscribers he's attracted - clearly demonstrates why lawyers must share their work in the places where their clients and potential clients hang out. Another lesson? Give the people what they want (to share):

What do you have to offer that addresses what people really need? Build a content plan around the answer to that question. Again, this is as true for a celebrity comedian as it is for a technology lawyer who solves the problems of, say, startup entrepreneurs, or an accountant who makes sense of financial matters for people who are busy raising families, planning vacations, saving for retirement.

Read the post. Then get to work on your content.

Does Your Online Marketing Strike Like Lightning?

Will 2015 be the year you start using social media to build relationships? Yes, if you read Jayne Navarre's Six Can’t-Miss Plays to Supercharge Your Online Marketing in 2015. It's full of practical pointers on why you need to be online and how to do it right. Like this:

To establish meaningful connections, try humanizing your presence and stop speaking at your audience, rather speak with them.

Read the post. Supercharge your online marketing. And make 2015 the year your social media efforts pay off.

Read This To Become A Better Writer

Writing is hard work, but Gregory Ciotti's 10 Quick Tips for Better Business Writing just might make it a little easier. And easier to read. Ciotti has assembled ten practical points for anyone who writes - to demonstrate expertise, to communicate ideas, to tell stories. And everyone else, too. It's solid advice you'd do well to take:

Writing is not flaunting your vocabulary... [It] is not meant to prove ownership of a thesaurus.

Read the post. Then get writing.

Is Your Website a Waste of Time and Money?

Sure, you've got a website. But that isn't enough, writes Cari Twitchell in 8 Best Practices for Law Firm Website Content at Lawyerist.com:

"If your website content does not engage and convert, then your website is a waste of time and money."

What to do? Read Twitchell's post, for starters. Her best practices (Stop using legalese. Tell your readers what to do. Write for a mobile audience.) will put you on the road to an engaging - and readable - website. One that's both easy to read AND focused on the very information your prospective clients seek.

Stop wasting your money - and your reader's time. Read the post. Then fix your website.