Welcome to the new Raising the Bar blog. I’ll be answering your questions here and offering comments on topics that are relevant to your business development success so let's get started!

Clients often ask if they should be blogging. This is what I say about that.

Blogging requires both a real commitment to posting on a regular basis and to pushing out content that goes beyond serving your own PR goals. If you are ready to say yes to both, then you'll be sharing information and connections to others that can help them reach their objectives and help you reach yours, as well.

Could you be missing opportunities by not blogging? If your best work comes by word-of-mouth, then blogging (and other social media initiatives) expand the possibilities for that. Blogging can enhance your reputation, demonstrate professional competencies and build trust in you as an authority in your practice areas. It can also showcase you as self-serving and myopic, so check your motives before committing to a blog.

What should you do?

• Study and follow other blogs.
• Look for what’s common among the blogs you like.
• Build a blog strategy around what you like and benefit from and then, use it.

But Robin, what about time?

Time is not an excuse unless you want it to be. Kevin O’Keefe (Real Lawyers Have Blogs) talks about that in his discussion of the new business bestseller, Rework. If you “don’t have enough time” it’s because you don’t want it enough.

Should you blog? Only if you want what blogging can do for you enough to do it right.

Do you have a question about business development? Ask it here and I'll answer in a future posting.

Until next time,

Robin