How can you differentiate yourself from the more than six million lawyers on the planet? Demonstrate your expertise. Since it’s not likely that large numbers of potential clients will see you in court or at the negotiation table… the second best way to demonstrate your expertise is with articles and blogs. The more you can connect to your target audience with relevant content that makes their life easier and solves their challenges… the more credibility you build with that target audience.

This week I read a blog post by my friend Cordell Parvin, 12 Things You Should Know Before Your Next Blog Post. Most of the 12 apply to everything you write for business development purposes.

1. Who is your intended reader?

2. Is your intended reader a businessman or a lawyer?

3. Why will your reader care about this post?

4. What else has been written on your blog topic recently?

5. What do you want your reader to take away from the post?

6. What do you want your reader to think about you?

7. If a potential client was doing a Google search of your blog topic, what would the client search?

8. If the potential client did a search of your blog topic, would the client find your blog?

9. If your reader only saw your headline, would he or she click to read more?

10. Is your blog easy to read on a mobile phone or tablet?

11. Will your intended reader want to pass your blog along to colleagues and industry friends, and if so, for what reason?

12. What will you do to promote your blog so your intended target reader sees it?

“What do you want your reader to think of you?” That is the most important question… and only you can answer that one!