As a 50 year old man, I can be somewhat daunted by everything the internet tells me to do to market myself. "Tweet this, like that, share this, make a profile here..." The requests go on and on, yet none seem to rocket my law firm to superstardom.

But recently I decided to remodel my website - to start from scratch and include a blog and an active social media presence. If these things are not causing my phone to ring off the hook and clients to pour in, then why do I participate in them? What is the reason behind these actions?

I can tell you that for the past twenty-five years that I have practiced law, the majority of my clients and majority of my business' income comes from word-of-mouth, referrals, and prior relationships. If this is the case, it seems that marketing at all is a waste of time and money.

Looking at it from a different perspective though, my business comes from my reputation. My reputation among friends, family, associates, clients, community members - all of this adds up to my overall, collective reputation, and that reputation is the biggest marketing tool an attorney can have up his sleeve.

Therefore, I use this website, my blog, and other social media platforms to help shape and mold my reputation. I share things that interest me, information that I know, expertise that I can provide, and commentary of things happening. It is through these things that I can develop an online relationship with my peers, whether or not they fit in the target audience of my practice. This relationship, however, fuels my reputation on and off the internet.

I entered the law industry to help people and to serve. If I can further my efforts towards this goal by sharing useful information on a website, I am more than willing to do so. So as you sit behind your smartphone or computer screen, imagine me having this conversation with you, discussing the latest world affairs or legal advice, and using this blog as a means to let you get to know me better and to let me serve you.