Now, I have no personal insight into this but it wouldn’t shock me if Arod pushed his lawyers to get the settlement finalized in September.

After all, he always comes up short in October.

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Note: I hope to have the site restored today. This is not a new look.  I have a special guest blogger for Wednesday.

Why bLAWg? Reason 2: Marketing

I read lots of ABA materials about how blogs can be used to generate business. Invariably the advice goes something like this:

• Register a blog with a domain name like www.ctfamilylawyerblog.com (I think it’s an available URL);
• Write about 1 area of law and 1 area of law only;
• Post links to other blogs on your website; and
• Lace your entries with keywords that people are likely to search.

I do none of those things. If you want your blog to generate a ton of business for you – do not use this blog as a template.

If this blog were music it would be jazz.

Here’s a shameless attempt to lace this post with searchwords: Sometimes, I write about areas of law that I practice (personal injury, family law, probate, elder law, housing law, conservatorships, collections, child custody child support,  real estate, home improvement law). I could never write about just 1 area of law because I don’t practice just 1 area of law.

Sometimes, I write about seaweed law. Sometimes, I write about John Trautwein.

This blog is a box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get from entry to entry. I never know what I’m going to write about.

I don’t have a long blogroll because I don’t like clutter. Blogs with too many links distract me. When I read something in a blog that I like, I link to it in my entry.

For example, I really enjoy www.apublicdefender.com and Norm Pattis’ blog. I’ve mentioned before that the godfather of this blog is:  www.connecticutemploymentlawblog.com.  Susan Cartier Liebel’s blog is a great resource for small firm attorneys.  Enough with the shameless linking.

You see, when someone links to my blog, I receive notification that they have linked to me. The idea or so I read is to market your blog to other bloggers who will in turn blog about your blog.

Anyhow, the total number of clients that I can trace directly to this blog is: zero!!!

This month alone, I’ve had 64 hits from the Slovak Republic! Hello to my Slovakian readers. 

 I’ve also had hits from China, Japan, the Netherlands, Kuwait, Australia, Singapore, Germany, Poland, Brazil, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, Great Britain, Switzerland, and a place that shows up only as: European Country (France, I’m looking at you).  Who knows, maybe I can one day achieve a “Johnny Drama in Viking Quest” like popularity overseas.

I could and perhaps should do a better job at marketing this blog and “optimizing it for google” but that’s not me. I’m not a lawyer who is comfortable with my face on the side of a bus or a billboard or on the back of your phone book.  That works for some attorneys but it’s not for me.

For me this blog works as a marketing tool in a very different way. What I want is someone to get my name from an existing client or some other referral source and then “google” my name. What I hope that person will find is a nice website about Connecticut law. Maybe, I’ll have written about an issue that is important to that person.

I also hope the prospective client will get a sense of who I am as a person. I try to keep things light in this blog (e.g. Don’t Dye the Easter Bunny). I write about baseball because I like baseball. I post links to local events that I enjoy.  

This blog is for you, the Slovakian guy, logging into this site at 3 a.m. eastern standard time, and reading about John Trautwein.

Over 7 years of litigation, the court appointed guardian ad litem for the minor child incurred fees that totaled approximately $37,000.00.

The court stated, perhaps the ultimate lesson in child custody litigation:

If the parties in this case spent as much time communicating or cooperating with one another regarding the rearing of their child as they have in litigating their discord, they would have saved tens of thousands of dollars they claim not to have, they would have avoided the time wasted on dozens of court appearances, and their child would be far better off. Instead, they persist in pursuing one another with a variety of legal motions which often appear to be nothing more than a continuation of the feud over their failed relationship.

The Courant ran this article last week about a bill that would lengthen the amount of time that an obligor was required to pay child support to the age of 21.

Presently, the legal obligation to support a child stops generally at the age of 18; or until the minor child attains the age of 19 or completes the 12th grade, whichever occurs first.

A court can also issue and educational support order requiring a parent to provide support for a child or children to attend up to 4 full academic years of an institution of higher education. The educational support order terminates no later than once the minor child attains the age of 23.

I could not find the text of the bill that would raise the age of child support until the age of 21 on the legislature’s website.

The legislature is also considering a bill that would require the child support guidelines to be examined and updated every 2 years instead of every 4 years as presently required.

I’m guessing that reviewing the child support guidelines every 2 years will have the effect of raising the amount of child support paid by obligors. The guidelines look in part at the cost of living in Connecticut. If the cost of living and raising a child increases it figures, that the guideline support amounts will also increase. 

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Get out and enjoy Hartford’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities this weekend, including Saturday’s parade and Sunday’s O’ Hartford 5k.  I’ll be raising a pint after finishing Sunday’s race.