I started this blog in November 2002. My plan was to use it to post news and reviews of Web sites of interest to the legal profession. I had just published the first edition of my book, The Essential Guide to the Best (and Worst) Legal Sites on the Web, and saw blogging as a way to keep myself and my readers up to date. In 2004, I launched a second blog, Media Law, devoted to legal issues involving the news media and freedom of the press.

Twin blogs kept me busy enough, but then in 2005, I began to cohost a weekly podcast, Lawyer2Lawyer with California lawyer J. Craig Williams, and we continue to record a program virtually every week. A year after that, I began to coauthor Law.com’s Legal Blog Watch, where I alternate days posting with Carolyn Elefant of MyShingle.

Meanwhile, as all this has been happening, the distinctions between my LawSites and Media Law blogs have become less clear to me, particularly as the distinctions between traditional media and new media have faded.

Long story short: I have two blogs that really should be one, given both the topics I want to write about and the time I have to blog. But I am unable to decide how best to go about this and would welcome the advice of my readers. My goals are to:

  • Have one blog where I can write about a broader range of topics, including media, the Internet, technology and marketing.
  • Maintain as much of each blog’s archives as possible.
  • Maintain as much of each blog’s readership as possible, including those who subscribe via RSS.
  • Maintain some degree of the “brand recognition” each blog has.

As I see it, my best options are:

  1. Keep LawSites as my primary blog, but rename it to better reflect a wider range of topics. This has the advantage of preserving LawSite’s older and more extensive archive. The downside is possibly losing Media Law’s archive and at least some of its subscribers. If it is dormant long enough, I presume Blogger will delete it.
  2. Keep LawSites without renaming it. This has the advantage of preserving all of the elements of one blog, but the disadvantage of preserving a name that limits its theme.
  3. Start a whole new blog, combining the themes of LawSites and Media Law. My fear here is even greater loss of subscribers and readers and, again, potential total loss of archives.
  4. Do nothing and maintain the status quo.
  5. Throw my laptop in the trash and focus on finding the meaning of life.

Am I missing something? Is there a way to somehow rename the blog, merge both sets of archives into one, and retain all RSS subscribers? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.