In today's modern world, where information is readily available with a few taps or clicks, businesses must build their own narrative. This is true of law practices.
The field of law is complicated and ever-changing, with endless specialties created to meet the needs of potential clients. The challenge with this is that law is increasingly daunting for the average person to understand. Similarly, finding the right law firm to handle a case can be extremely daunting.
The best way to navigate through this confusion is by having a law firm blog. Thus, if you’re wondering whether your law practice should have a blog on your website? The answer is yes!
In this article, we'll look at the pros and cons and offer some tips for a successful law firm marketing!
Top 5 Reasons Law Firms Should Have a Blog:
The Demand Metric reports that 82% of potential customers feel more positive toward a company after reading its custom content.
Custom content, including your law firm’s blog, can help create an affirmative connection between your law firm and your potential client. This is especially essential during uncertain times when building a relationship with a trusted company is paramount. Here are five more reasons you must create a blog for your law firm:
Search Engines Prioritize Quality and Frequent Content
Search engines, such as Google, love content. If you want popular search engines to pay attention to your website, the more high-quality content you publish the better. According to Moz.com, creating high-quality and quantity content is one of the most effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. Also, creating high-quality and relevant content is among the highest determinants of search engine rankings.
There's no genuine mystery why search engines reward newer and authoritative content. Typically, search engines thrive by offering their users the best, most relevant content in response to search queries. So search engines essentially privilege websites with a good deal of high-quality, relevant content on the subject.
Greater Visibility
More blog content on law firm websites = more ways for prospective clients to find you. Think of what a potential client may type into Google when they're going through a law-related issue or need legal services. Basic search queries include things, such as "Denver divorce attorney," "Best Denver family law attorney," or "Client testimonials for Denver divorce attorneys." You can cover this territory with good search engine optimization (SEO) for your lawyer biographies, legal practice area pages, and testimonial pages.
However, those search queries also suggest great blog topics, including "How Do I Choose the Best Denver Divorce Attorney?" or "Where Do I Find Client Testimonials for Denver Divorce Attorneys." To create a second-tier or relevant blog post, think in terms of what your target client might be thinking about as they navigate through a legal issue in their lives. Such as "Is Colorado a No-Fault Divorce State?" "Colorado Springs Child Support Calculator." "Is spousal maintenance Tax Deductible?" "Colorado Law regarding Child Custody." Quality blog posts on these kinds of topics—can be educative without overly encouraging self-help.
These articles allow clients to come across your law firm's website. Even if they aren't looking to hire an attorney yet, they have been exposed to your law firm's website, and you're generous enough to offer such valuable content to the public on your areas of expertise.
Further, your blog post should emphasize potential clients' chances of success on a given legal issue if they seek competent legal representation. Also, this type of content is "evergreen." Search engines will index your client-friendly topics and they'll accessible for years to come. Thus, a blog post's SEO value has longevity; it's not limited to the weeks after you post them.
Finally, well-written topics can encourage social sharing via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and email. Social sharing is another crucial SEO factor that impresses search engines by telling them that their users find your website valuable.
Related: Why is SEO Important For Lawyers?
Highlight Your Experience
Your legal commentary highlights your expertise and engagement with your field. When potential clients or referrals check out your law firm website, they see your law firm's expertise in, and engagement with, the areas of law they need legal help with.
Further, you can display certain attorneys on your blog as authors, with links to their biographies. This type of personal connection—whether with a compassionate approach to an emotional subject or perhaps expertise in a given area—gives the potential client a sense of what it may be like to work with you.
Answer Client's Questions
Improves client service and saves time. When you publish relevant blog posts that answer frequent questions and genuine concerns of your prospective clients, you have a quick and easy resource to point to when those concerns come up with new clients.
For example, after writing a blog post on the "How to hire the right Denver personal injury lawyer," or "How much does a Denver criminal defense lawyer charge?", you no longer have to create long emails or have lengthy discussions about those topics, you can just share the link.
Announce News
It's a brilliant way to announce law firm news, cases won, or awards. Just one more benefit of having a law firm blog, law firm news, or other prominent frequently updated section of your law firm website can involve displaying your firm's successes and happenings.
Whether a lawyer was cited in the media, won professional accolades, or was appointed to a local community board, publishing a little update reflects well on your law firm and gives your law firm's website a dynamic presence.
Reasons Law Firms Shouldn't Have a Blog:
There's no real reason a law firm shouldn't have a blog. However, your website goals might not need blogging under the following circumstances:
- You don't care about generating more search engine traffic. The key reason GoEngine recommends having a law firm blog is to have an avenue to create user-friendly and valuable content that search engines and their users value when searching for legal help.
- If your potential clients are mostly from networking, personal referrals, and other forms of personal marketing tactics, then your website is perhaps more for validation. Thus, a blog is not that important. However, don't underestimate the value of impressing those who come to your website, just to check out your legal services after being referred to you.
- Your online marketing efforts don't require blogging. It's imperative to note that quantity, quality, up-to-date content is always good if you're looking to gain traction with search engines. But blogging, just like any other legal marketing strategy, you must consider budget constraints, time, and your return on investment (ROI).
- Some law firms have found success using their marketing budgets to create a few landing pages for online ads, and then channeling most of their resources into paying for the ads instead of investing in regular blogging.
How Do I Create a Blog for My Law Firm?
Creating a blog for your legal practice is perhaps easier to do than you might imagine. To start a professional blog for your law firm, follow these steps.
- Consider the content management system (CMS) your existing law firm website uses and its capabilities. If you use WordPress for your website, for instance, it’s easy to add an integrated blog feed yourself using the WordPress Editor, or you can have one of our law firm marketing experts do it for you.
- Once that's done, it’s time to put some thought into the user experience. You want your law firm blog to resemble the rest of your website, but it also should be extra entertaining. This might require extra work depending on your blogging platform. Your law firm's blog is ineffective if it’s difficult to navigate, read, and doesn’t encourage user engagement.
- Add features, such as colorful photos and eye-catching formatting. Decide if you’d like to add a comments section or a call to action feature at the bottom of the web page to further engage with visitors.
These are just a few basic elements you must consider when starting a blog. The experts at GoEngine Marketing know all the integrations and features that may be right for your firm. Contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation with one of our legal marketing experts.
How Often Should I Publish New Blog Posts?
You don't want to publish blog posts too often or too infrequently. This could confuse prospective clients and make all your efforts useless.
Typically, you should publish a couple of blogs each month. Regularly adding fresh content is an integral aspect of your SEO strategy, but you don’t want to overwhelm your visitors and existing clients with too much information at once.
A monthly blog post is a perfect way to express to your web visitors what’s new at your law firm and add value to your clients’ lives. Also, it ensures consistency, in terms of your brand messaging and your blog delivery, both key to effective content marketing campaigns.
Further, one or two blog posts every month are the perfect way to express your law firm’s value and expertise.
Contact Our Experienced Law Firm Marketing Specialists Today!
At GoEngine, we also offer help with search engine optimization, editing, and posting your own articles: if you're one of those attorneys who is great at coming up with ideas and first drafts—but don't have time to think about SEO or edit your content—this is a great option!
We welcome you to contact our digital marketing team with questions about our blogging services for attorneys and your specific content marketing goals. To schedule a free initial consultation for all of your lawyer marketing needs, contact our blogging experts today.