The answer to your question isn’t that different from academic circles - citation rules! In terms of value, citation within blog commentary is more valuable than any blogroll link. It also gets people’s attention quicker.

The principal strategy is to respond & link directly to the other person’s post. Agree or disagree, but cite them by name, recap/quote their commentary, and then - most importantly - add something valuable & original from you to the exchange.

Blogs that do this are winners - over & over again.

Your blogroll is still a valuable tool. My advice on creating your ‘dance card’ is to make it unique & subject targeted. And remember these 2 things: 1) read the blogs before you link up, and 2) the sites you link to make up the subject sphere of your website. The tighter your content focus and linking focus (SEO factors aside), the better Google will be able to place your site for ranking purposes.

My question:
blogroll links to your peers;
not just writing your own thoughts, but engaging in blog-to-blog discussions;

How do you do that? link to peers and engage in blog discussions. Can you explain.

Great info thanks for your site

Interesting comments…I think the whole social side of the web and blogging is just beginning to be understood - particularly when it comes to lawyers.

I think our past history is responsible..we read a magazine and perhaps a few of us would do a letter to the editor. But that would be about it. But in a blog - after reading the post….you can enter into a dialog with not only the writer, but also with the readership at large. The collaborative and interactive power of web 2.0 is not only transformational, it is synaptic. Bloggers write about other blogs …and lines of communication are developed…linking not only ideas, but people and thoughts. People who would not normally come into contact, do so. Ideas are shared. A knowledge velocity is at work - speeding the dissemination of thought and innovation - and connections.

There is something at work here that mirrors the internet itself - but rather than just connecting computers…we have connected minds.

Who knows where this will lead. But certainly professionals..and lawyers..need to be considering this and in particular, their role in this future.

Cheers,

Dave
info@thoughtfullaw.com

You keep posting great stuff to your blog, you’re going to have no problem getting others like Larry and I to reference the content - as well as refer clients to you. ;)