Middle Eastern youth are blogging up a storm. Whether blogging about politics, terrorism, or even marriage prospects, young people are speaking their mind in an unprecedented way.  In the process, they are trouncing barriers of gender, age and religion.

Earlier this week I heard journalist and Middle East specialist Mona Eltahawy speak about this profusion of young Middle Eastern bloggers (particularly in Egypt; for more, read I blog, therefore I am), and how this is impacting world opinion about the region. These young bloggers are reaching a worldwide audience thanks to the Internet. The result, according to Ms. Eltahawy, has been that journalists (and others) are gaining new and critical insights, and  revising their Middle Easterner stereotypes.

As an international lawyer, you  can learn a lot from these Middle Eastern teens.  As these young bloggers know, blogs reach readers across boundaries imposed by culture, geography and politics.  Similarly, lawyer blogs (or articles posted on the web) are a great way to reach far and wide. Okay, if the content isn’t scandalous, riveting or shocking, you may not  get millions of hits.  However, with well chosen key words that maximize your SEO,  you are more likely to attract desirable readers.

Just as the blogs are allowing  Middle Eastern teens to express themselves to politicians, religious leaders and even teens of other genders (despite cultural and religious restrictions),  so can lawyers’  blogs speak to clients that are hard to reach.

If you are looking for another marketing path, research those hard-to-reach clients, and figure out their pressing needs and interests. Then publish some blog posts or Web articles about these topics, suggesting solutions to the potential clients’ needs.

Blogging and/or article writing isn’t a magic bullet to developing geographically-distant clients.  But blogging is one more easy-to-use (and inexpensive) tool in a savvy lawyer’s marketing tool chest.