The New Miami Blog focuses on the growing commercial industries in Florida’s most popular city, but the blog’s reach goes far beyond the city and even the state.
“While the blog may have the name ‘Miami’ in it, it really focuses on the global view that Miami is more than just a gateway to South America. It’s about the connectivity between Miami and Europe, Asia and South America that’s paramount to the success of our blog,” said Albert Dotson, the editor-in-chief of Bilzin Sumberg’s blog.
Dotson, whose practice centers on government relations and land development, and the other bloggers proactively write about the growth of hotel, trade, transportation and other key industries in Miami-Dade County.
“If you’re not proactive, if you’re not looking at trends and if you’re not writing about what might happen versus what has occurred, then your blog will most likely be outdated the moment you post,” said Dotson. “[The lawyers] recognized their responsibility to not only write about what has happened, but more importantly the impact about what has happened on the future of our community.”
That approach has gained the blog local readers, but also international interest.
“We see that those are looking at Miami from outside the city, the state and the country as a place to invest and to grow their business opportunities – who are clearly reading our blog,” said Dotson describing the blog’s audience. “Then there are those in our community or the state itself who recognize that Miami is uniquely positioned – both geographically and based on its attraction. They too are looking at ways to take advantage of the foreign investment in Miami.”
What sets the New Miami Blog apart from other law blogs is that lawyers write about local topics before they are picked up by the mainstream media, and also directly reference and link to influential businesses. Linking to businesses and executives in their blog has helped the firm capture their attention, and in the past, lead to outside executives asking to contribute guest posts.
While the New Miami Blog slowly moved away from guest posts, the blog helps strengthen client relationships offline.
“When we discuss an industry or a trend, … I have heard personally from existing clients who have a new businesses opportunity because something that we wrote triggered an idea that they would like us to help them explore,” said Dotson. “We’ve absolutely have seen our blogs grow into new and expanding businesses relationships.”
The blog not only keeps readers and clients up-to-date with Miami’s business developments, but it’s also been a learning experience for Dotson and the other writers because of the time and preparation put into the posts.
“I learn a lot as the editor, and I would not give it up even if [the firm] asked me to,” said Dotson.
Before launching the New Miami Blog in 2012, the firm and contributing lawyers explored how effective blogging would be for the firm, what they wanted to write about and the overall voice of the blog. Dotson said that the blogs emphasis is writing towards their readers and holds the bloggers to high standards.
“Each lawyer … participates in meetings throughout the year where we discuss concepts, where the blog is going, what the blog is trying to convey and their area of focus,” said Dotson. “Not every blog post will see the light of day and not every blog post looks like the writing we originally received. .. [T]he key for those of us who are the final reviewers is that we look at that post through the lens of the audience.”
That direction carries over to the very to-the-point advice Dotson offers to other lawyers who want to improve their blogs:
“First advice: Don’t write like a lawyer. Second advice: Know your audience. Third advice: Be concise. Fourth: Be relevant.”