3 Reasons Why You Don’t Need To Know It All

When I started blogging for my law firm back in 2005 it was only after spending months frozen in terror.  I couldn’t blog because I didn’t know enough.  I’d be found out as someone who didn’t have all the answers, and some other lawyer or well-informed consumer would expose me.  I’d be stoned by terrified villagers bearing pitchforks, screaming obscenities at me.

But once I published my first piece I realized just how lame this excuse for inaction truly was.  There was nobody lurking the shadows waiting to pounce on me, no “truth police” bent on my downfall.  And even if there had been, my professional standing would have remained intact.  That’s because there’s a myth out there that you need to know everything in order to say anything.

You Know Something, And That’s What Counts

There’s this pervasive sense that in order to create content online – be it in the form of a blog, posting articles, or any other content creation strategy – you need to be an expert.  And you do need to be an expert, but only on the narrow topic covered by the individual piece of content.  Not on everything.

Good content is going to focus on a single point, not an entire treatise.  That means you need to be an expert on that single point in order to get your voice heard. Even if you are a master in all things relating to your field, don’t bite off more than you need to when writing content for the web.  It’s got to be succinct, not a law journal article (which is usually edited by a team of people anyway).

Set In Pixels Doesn’t Mean Set In Stone

When I started blogging I wasn’t nearly as experienced in bankruptcy and consumer law as is currently the case.  I knew a thing or two, but I couldn’t call myself the Grand Master (still can’t).  And that scared the crap out of me – my field of law is so hyper-technical that it’s easy to forget the provisions of a section of the Code or a local rule.  Maybe you feel that way, too.

For those in fields that are more open to interpretation, the problem is even worse.  Think of the personal injury lawyer who’s just coming out of the gate in terms of content marketing – every case presents a different issue surrounding injury thresholds, causation and damages.  What if an analysis of a particular issue, boiled down to be palatable to your audience, comes across as muddy or incomplete?

When you publish a blog post there’s no rule saying you can’t go back and edit it later.  If you set out to talk about some fine point of tax law and end up forgetting a point or two then you’ve got two options – do a second post as a follow-up or merely go back to the original and add to it.

When In Doubt, Leave It Open

One of the most effective ways of getting more engagement on your blog posts is in leaving it open at the end with a question or invitation to interact.  Putting out a piece of content without a reason to add comments at the end is likely going to be read like a news article, and you probably prefer to have more people adding to things.  When they do it not only makes your blog more interesting but more popular as well; comments are a form of social proof.

Not only that, but comments are good for your search engine optimization.  More comments mean more content.  And when that content is using terms used by your audience when searching, it’s keyword-optimized to boot!

Are you paralyzed when it comes to publishing content online?  Share your concerns in the comments area and let’s work it out.

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