In a previous blog entry, I talked about the reasons why lawyers should consider teaching continuing legal education seminars (CLEs).  Of course, you have got to get to a place in your legal career where the state and local bars and major CLE companies want you to speak.

But if they do, speaking at CLE seminars is a great way to give back to the legal community. By speaking, you are sharing your knowledge and helping other lawyers provide better legal services to those in need. A lawyer can also enhance their speaking skills, which will help them in the courtroom and in terms of managing their law firm.

Teaching at CLE seminars can also help in another way that few lawyers consider. Teaching at CLE seminars can result in great webpage content. As it relates to the ranking of a webpage, content is king. The more content you have on your webpage about your area of law, the more the major search engines will like your webpage.

The search engines like webpages that are rich in content because it contains relevant information for those in need. The search engines can literally tell how many visitors come to your webpage. They can also measure how long individuals stay on your webpage and then come back. Individuals are likely to come to your webpage, stay on it for a significant period of time and then come back if there is interesting information.

However, few lawyers have the time to create great webpage content. Most lawyers are so consumed with their cases and practice management issues that they do not have the time or energy to create great webpage content. Further, while there are some companies out there that might be willing to assist in creating great webpage content for a fee, this does not mean the content will be rich and informative.

Many law firms might also encourage other lawyers in their firm to write blog articles or create other helpful content. But most law firm managers can attest that it is like pulling teeth to get most lawyers to contribute.

This is where CLE seminars can really be helpful. If you are teaching a CLE seminar, you likely have to put together written materials and slides. For many lawyers, they put lots of work into these CLE materials. After all, they do not want to teach in front of other lawyers, judges and legal professionals without having put a lot of thought into what they are teaching.

CLE materials can contain case summaries and citations. They might contain sample legal forms. They might contain information and citations to other articles and law review articles. They might even contain personal anecdotes that the lawyer has learned over time about the areas in which the practice.

After teaching a CLE seminar, the reality is that these materials can often be turned into great webpage content. The materials themselves might be posted in totality. Or, a lawyer might chop up the webpage content to put on various pages on their webpage. A law firm can even podcast about what they taught at a CLE seminar and provide a link to it on their webpage.

While some lawyers might be leery of teaching at CLEs because they are largely donating their time, teaching CLE seminars is something most lawyers ought to think about doing if they are asked to do so. The webpage content that can be created from it is something most lawyers do not even consider.