Content is king.
That’s the cliché digital marketers use when talking to you about your website. The reason it’s a cliché is simple—because it’s true. A website is only as good as its content and a digital marketing strategy that brings people to your law firm’s website will end up empty if there isn’t a compelling reason to stay. That’s why your law firm needs a vibrant blog.
While writing a blog can seem easy on the surface, it can be difficult to execute amidst the hustle-and-bustle of your legal practice. Asking the question, “How do I write a legal blog?” is a good and reasonable one.
Every law firm can build around some basics—talk about current events in your field and talk about your successes (to the extent it’s appropriate). To keep the blog active, you need evergreen topics you can write about even when the news is slow and your best successes have to be kept confidential. You also want to humanize yourself and the firm in the process—after all, the point is to get clients.
Here are some topic ideas to broaden your blog’s appeal to readers and its value for search engines.
A tutorial series
Do you harbor any dreams of maybe teaching law some day? Your blog is a place to get started. Put together a list of 5-10 topics and write them as a series, one at a time. When you write each post, make certain readers know that it integrates into an entire series and provide links to previous lessons. Even better, create a separate page on your website that will have links to all the individual posts. It can be your own “Knowledge Center,” if you will.
If you optimize each post for a specific keyword, the search engine value will be enhanced. Search engines will also like your Knowledge Center and see it as a sign of authority in your field. Readers will appreciate the chance for a little introduction to law school. This is the kind of thing people remember when they or someone they know needs legal counsel.
Repurpose old posts
Maybe there was a thoughtful 1,500-word post that you wrote a year ago. What if you went back and essentially used that same content, but in a different format? If there were statistics involved, you could create a graphic that summarizes the data with a short introduction. Maybe just do a video essentially repeating the same information into the camera. Through repurposing, a single good idea can turn into multiple posts.
Go off-topic
Let’s say you’re starting to get engagement with your content, either directly on the website or through your social media channels. Now is the time to humanize yourself a little bit. Ask questions on other topics that you’re wondering about.
For example, do you have yardwork to do at home and have questions about what type of tools to use? Ask it in a blog post and invite responses. Looking for a good movie to watch on Saturday night? Ask your audience what suggestions they have. You’re letting the audience know that yes, even a lawyer is really “one of them.”
Creating good content is vital for your marketing success. Studies show that 7 in 10 people would rather learn about a company through an article than an advertisement. Nearly that same proportion of people are inclined to have good feelings about a company after reading its content.
