We actually hit a point in June where science law environment topped the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Google and national media outlets, even though EPA is the source of the rule materials we were writing about. – Doug Steding, Miller Nash Graham & Dunn

Over 8,000 authors use the LexBlog platform to publish their content online. As LexBlog members, these publishers benefit from:

Combined, these areas provide members with an unmatched benefits package from LexBlog, the world leader in legal blogging.

As you begin your work with LexBlog to launch and maintain your new blog, be sure and review the following resources other members find helpful at this stage:

Even before your design is applied, you can log into your blog site to get started drafting content and learning the platform.

You will need your user login credentials provided by LexBlog. For more information, see the below video:

https://vimeo.com/88776359

When you’re ready for some additional help, see our full suite of on-demand platform training resources, available in the members-only community and accessible through the backend of your blog.

You can expect a response within 24 hours during normal business hours:
8am-5pm Pacific time, Monday-Friday, excluding major US holidays.

Fastest information available via our community portal.

Ask the Community

Fast, immediate answers to most questions and crowd-sourced reporting of platform issues in our member-only community.

Access the community when you log into your blog and navigate to your blog’s support center.

Tweet to @LexBlogSupport

Sum up what’s up in 140 characters (or less) and send our way.

Submit a Ticket

If the support you need involves private or confidential information, use our ticket form.

Additionally, our status page is available for you to check on outages and known issues.

Our platform is specifically tuned to the needs of legal blogging authors. In addition to a simple content-editing interface, regular users can access unique resources directly from the platform, including:

Behind the scenes, we use a layered technology approach to deliver you enterprise speed, stability, security and scale with both our own infrastructure and technology specialist partners.

Speed

Your blogs, as managed by LexBlog, operate with superior speed and load times, well under the internet standard of sub one-second server response times. This helps with search engine optimization as search engines prioritize sites that load quickly. We also build our blog pages for optimum performance for readers and site branding.

Most importantly, we coach our authors on how to post for optimum site performance. The use of smaller images, proper embeds and continue reading links all help our bloggers keep their sites loading quickly.

Stability

As experts managing your blogs, we take care of the latest software changes, plugin updates and server hassles. Through our management, LexBlog sites experience better than 99.95% uptime. Even during a rare outage, popular blog content will load for your readers in an offline mode to lessen the impact.

Security

Our expert staff of seasoned veterans work constantly to ensure there is no better home for your blogs. In addition to our beautiful, on-brand designs and blogging best practices coaching, we maintain an unparalleled record of security and a robust “no corners cut” approach. Specifically:

  1. We use an enterprise grade infrastructure with:
    firewalls, DDoS mitigation, IDS-IPS functionality (we block and log security attacks before they start), network analysis monitoring tools and a secure SAS70 Type II data center with monitoring and intrusion protection.
  2. We employ conscientious plugin management and in-house development.
    Unlike a hosting company, we maintain and fully support not only the servers but the applications running on them. So while there are more than 35,000 plugins in WordPress’ plugin directory, we often find it’s best to develop our own purpose-built plugins with the options that our clients need. As applicable, we activate and configure plugins to make sure they work as intended and that they continue to work in harmony with the rest of the software powering blogs on The LexBlog Platform.
  3. Our software stack is properly configured for optimal performance of The LexBlog Platform.
    When default server software environments are not properly configured, security and performance problems can arise. Our software stack includes special provisions to ensure optimal performance of our WordPress-based platform.
  4. We use a prudent deployment process when adding code.
    Whenever development work is done to your blog during launch, redesign or an upgrade, our team thoroughly test and re-tests to ensure no risks are associated with the new code on your blog. With our replicated testing environments, backup, restore and versioning tools for deploying functionality, we keep the LexBlog platform stable and performant.
  5. We update plugins and themes on a rigorous schedule
    to ensure risk is low and plugin updates keep pace with platform-wide updates, leaving no security holes or risk.
  6. We cautiously keep pace with platform versions.
    Before each update, we thoroughly vet and test public WordPress changes in the context of the proprietary LexBlog platform and plugins upon which our clients rely. This ensures that as WordPress increases security and continually improves code, LexBlog clients reap the benefits.
  7. We enforce strong password management rules as brute force or “dictionary” attacks are increasingly common.
  8. We have a robust backup system.
    The worst can happen to even the most seasoned IT teams with the biggest data centers. Our blogs are backed up off-site and on schedule so even if disaster strikes, your blog data will be there.
  9. We regularly scan with third-party vulnerability software to discover any hidden or hard-to-discover security issues.

Scale

When a blog post goes “viral” with thousands of unexpected visitors after you cover a particularly newsworthy event, you do not need to worry about overloading your site causing it to go offline. Our high-capacity servers are built to handle the load of your fame multiplying.

Support

Website hacking and vulnerabilities are an everyday occurrence online today. LexBlog is poised 24/7 to respond to threats. We actively work to maintain platform accessibility and uptime for you and your blog visitors.

If my blog goes down, which it rarely does because of the built-in redundancies, [LexBlog] has a team that jumps on it any time of day or night. They are responsive and accountable. – R. David Donoghue, Partner, Holland & Knight

In the event of a service interruption, we quickly respond and provide updates to interested members who subscribe via the LexBlog status page (status.lexblog.com). We also post notices of upcoming maintenance there as well.

We also support everyday platform use. In particular, we provide thorough self-paced training resources available in our knowledge base.

Search Engine Optimization

We are committed to building a technical foundation for blog success, so you can focus on what matters most: crafting helpful content that fosters relationships to grow your online reputation.

LexBlog is committed to best practices in the following areas of technical search engine optimization:

  • Inbound referral links from reputable sources
  • Keyword-rich title tags
  • Permalink structure
  • Sitemap structure
  • Duplicate content prevention
  • Semantic HTML markup
  • Sitemap submission directly to search engines
  • Geographic targeting
  • Domain choice
  • Image use
  • Page load speed
  • Mobile-friendly design

Why WordPress?

We selected WordPress as the foundation for our proprietary LexBlog platform because:

  1. WordPress powers 23.9% of all websites and is supported by an enormous open-source community
  2. Continual improvements are introduced that we can build off of and deliver to our members
  3. WordPress started exclusively as a blog platform, unlike other systems originally positioned for website content management
  4. WordPress delivers unparalleled functionality as a blog platform

logov5The LexBlog Network is a growing media hub for legal and professional blogs worldwide.

LXBN.com

We feature curated* content published on the LexBlog platform on LXBN.com for additional exposure to industry thought leaders, press and visitors. Top blog posts are spotlighted daily on the homepage, practice area channel pages and tag pages devoted to specific niche subjects. Content pieces on trending topics are frequently elevated as well.

Twitter

LXBN editors use the same editorial standards* they apply to LXBN.com in sharing a curated selection of content to @LXBN’s more than 12,000 Twitter followers.

“Top 10” Lists

The best posts are also chosen for our coveted “Top 10” lists, highlighted daily on Real Lawyers Have Blogs (to which there are an average of 42,000 unique visitors each quarter). An archive of these lists can be found at kevin.lexblog.com/best-law-blogs:

best_in_law_blogs_RLHB

Further, we work with select content partners to creatively drive more traffic to our member blogs.

 

*Content must meet criteria outlined in the LXBN Editorial Policy, around which we provide coaching during the blog launch process.

Producing consistently high-quality legal blog content can be challenging but is exactly what will give you a competitive edge to rise above the rest.

Blogging enables me to share what I know in a way that’s far more immediate and far more effective than your basic press release. – William Marler, Marler Clark LLP

Your subscription includes access to all of our “best practice” resources, including:

  • Dedicated success team: Through and after blog launches, the LexBlog success team will continue to assist you with any requests you have.
  • Light training and proactive coaching: At LexBlog we truly love all things social media and blogging. We offer frank feedback that will help you grow. Our team is with you every step of the way to ensure your blog not only gets off to a great start, but also continues to improve over time.
  • Webinars and additional training resources: We understand law firms are full of busy people, and some may prefer to learn on their own time. LexBlog offers recorded training and live and recorded webinars to accommodate your busy schedule, all from the success team.
  • Monthly newsletters with how-to’s and industry information: It’s our job to keep you informed of latest trends and information in blogging and social media. Spark – the member-only monthly newsletter – is packed with upcoming webinar info, best practices and helpful information for you as you grow your digital footprint.
  • Access to Online Knowledge Base and Community: The Knowledge Base and Community is your one-stop LexBlog help shop with a forum and knowledge base designed to help you blog better and build a strong online presence. Post questions for our team and other professional bloggers as you grow as a legal blog publisher or advise team members on how to blog best.

When you’re ready to move into content writing (which you should do as soon as possible!), be sure to use the following resources to help you along the way.

These resources will offer quick and easy ways to get blog post inspiration, write your first posts, and have everything ready to make your blog “live.”

When your blog officially launches, you have many opportunities to attract and wow your first visitors. The following resources will make sure you look good: