Law Firms Must Blog: 9 Powerful Reasons Why
Law firms have many marketing channels: websites, blogs, digital ads, print ads, social media, legal directories, email marketing, TV, radio, and more. This article explains why blog content is an ideal and cost-effective marketing tool for law firms.
1) Blogs drive relevant, targeted traffic to your website
Having a great website does little good if nobody sees it. Websites with robust, SEO-optimized blogs get exponentially more visitors than websites without them. Google loves blogs, especially those that are regularly updated. Thus, consistent blogging leads to higher Google rankings, meaning more website visitors.
You can generate leads by blogging about topics that are important to your clients. Know your clients’ pain points and write about them. By answering readers’ burning questions, you earn their trust and increase the likelihood that they will hire you.
Your blog should provide clear answers to frequently asked questions about your practice areas. The goal is to answer readers’ questions so well that they return to you the next time they have one. The better you answer their questions, the more likely they will return. A reader who regularly returns to your website for information will likely hire you over someone else.
2) Blogs establish you as an authority in your practice areas and location
Law firms need to demonstrate authority to win clients. Sharing your expertise through blog content lets clients and peers see you are an expert in your field. As such, blogging is a great way to build your name and reputation.
Clients want to know that you can solve their specific problems. Blogging allows you to address specific legal issues and provide detailed explanations for how to resolve them. Thus, you can use blogs to show potential clients that you can resolve their specific problem and are the right person for the job.
It is important to use location-based keywords in your blogs. Location-based keywords make you rank higher in local search results. Local search results are where you win clients because they typically need a lawyer in their location or their case’s location.
3) Blogs convert readers into clients
Blogging makes legal information easily accessible – saving people time, money, and headaches. Using blogs to answer basic legal questions means people don’t have to call you, visit your office, type out an email, or spend money. Thus, blogging provides massive value to prospective clients at no cost. Adding value to clients free of charge earns their trust and greatly increases the chances they will hire you.
However, more than simply having a blog is necessary to convert readers into clients. Your blog must demonstrate your authority, earn the reader’s trust, provide value, and include a call to action. A call to action requests that the reader do something that will put them farther down your sales funnel. Each blog article should include a call to action. The call to action may instruct clients to call you, fill out a contact form, make a purchase, or download your e-book.
4) Blog content is a long-term asset
When you spend money on advertisements, the money is gone once the ad ends. However, when you spend money on blog content, you get to keep the content, and it will continue driving traffic to your website for as long as you leave it on the internet – which could be years or even decades. Advertising requires you to keep spending to get results. Blogging leaves you with a long-term asset that will keep working for you long after you created it.
Well-written blog content rarely, if ever, needs to be re-written except for occasional changes to the law.
Great blog content increases in value the longer it is on the internet because its reach grows organically. Once an article gains traction and ranks on Google, it becomes more valuable. Thus, well-written content is an appreciating asset that increases in value over time as it draws more and more viewers.
Keep in mind, however, that content marketing is a long game. You can expect consistent blogging to take six months to one year to gain traction in highly competitive markets. However, once you have gained hard-earned traction and your content dominates local search results, it will be difficult for other law firms to outperform you.
5) Blogs are cost-effective
Ad space in the legal industry is incredibly expensive. Pay-per-click ads can cost hundreds of dollars per click in highly competitive markets like personal injury law. The exorbitant cost of ads makes blog content a cheaper, cost-effective solution to getting new clients.
How much does blog content cost? If you write the content yourself, it’s free. You can’t beat that price! However, many law firms don’t have time to blog regularly. If you want to blog but don’t have time, consider hiring a professional legal content writer.
However, don’t just hire anyone. Ranking for keywords in the legal industry is fiercely competitive, and you will waste your money if you hire a writer who doesn’t know what they are doing. Instead, hire a writer who specializes in law firm content and has a proven history of gaining traction in legal search fields.
Different writers charge different rates, but if your blog article lands you a good client, it will likely pay for itself many times over.
6) Blogging attracts your audience. Advertising distracts your audience.
Advertising distracts your audience by pushing messages at them while they are trying to do other things. Banners, pop-ups, PPC, paid social media, and other forms of ads try to steal people’s attention.
Content marketing, however, gives people something useful that they were already looking for. People come across your blogs looking for the content you created, not because you stole their attention from something else.
With content marketing, you give people something they want – something helpful and useful –rather than robbing them of their time and attention.
Great content should be informative, useful, and entertaining. If your content lacks these qualities, you are likely in advertising mode.
It’s worth noting that many people don’t trust paid advertising. Studies report that up to 80% of search engine users ignore the paid ads placed above organic search results.
7) There are an infinite number of compelling blog topics
Blog about topics that address the pain points of potential clients. The better you can address their concerns, the more effective your blog will be as a marketing tool.
Here is a list of blog ideas that generate evergreen content for law firms:
Guides and how-to articles
Write niche-specific guides that explain common legal processes within your practice areas. For example, if you are an immigration lawyer, you could write how-to articles about how to complete the various types of immigration forms. If you are a family lawyer, you could write step-by-step guides about common family law processes like divorce or adoption.
Frequently asked questions
If you find yourself answering the same questions repeatedly, write blogs about them and provide detailed answers. Your website should have an FAQ page, but blogging allows you to answer more questions in greater detail. The questions you answer in your emails are great sources for blog topics. Likewise, questions triggered by your current content make great blog topics too. Don’t waste great conversations by keeping them private – share those useful answers.
Changes to the law
The law is always evolving, especially in practice areas like immigration law. Write about changes to the law to show peers and clients that you keep up to date with the latest developments.
Industry developments
Suppose you are a business lawyer who wants to attract hotel clients. In that case, you could write blog articles about developing trends in the hotel industry. Suppose you are an estate planning lawyer. In that case, you could write blogs about the latest investment tools and strategies.
Detailed discussions of topics covered in your practice area pages
Your blog is a great place to dive deeply into issues you covered generally in your practice area pages. For example, suppose you are a personal injury lawyer with a practice area page for brain injuries. In that case, you could write an article that goes into deep detail specifically about concussions and the effects they have on a person’s life.
Things you wish clients knew
If you’ve practiced law long enough, chances are you’ve seen a client do something to sabotage their best interests. Help your clients avoid these mistakes by writing about things you wish they knew. For example, if you’re a personal injury lawyer, write a piece about why clients should stay off social media when they have an ongoing personal injury case.
Suggestions from Google
Google’s search feature is ripe for blogging ideas. Start with a few simple keywords and type them into Google’s search bar. Google’s autocomplete responses are the most common searches based on those keywords.
As such, Google’s autocomplete responses make great blog topics. Furthermore, Google will show you 1) relevant questions people are asking and 2) relevant topics your competitors have covered – both of which make great blog ideas (see image below).
Image Credit: Digital Marketing Tips
Explain a process or best practice
Legal processes can be confusing, even for lawyers. Simplify common processes within your practice areas and explain them in plain English. Use charts, graphs, and other visual aids whenever possible. The better you can simplify complex concepts, the more effective your blog will be.
The inverse of your best how-to post
Take your best performing how-to post and turn it upside down. Instead of calling it ‘’How to Do XYZ,’’ call it ‘’Mistakes to Avoid when Doing XYZ.” You are discussing the same best practices but from a different perspective, focusing on the pitfalls. Don’t post an inverse article right after posting the original one–wait a while.
Improve existing blog posts
You may have posts with good content that are not ranking well because they’re not optimized for SEO. Use our SEO auditing guide to turn underperforming content into top-notch blog articles.
Trending legal topics in your practice areas and location
If an issue in your practice area made headlines recently, then write about it. For example, if you are a personal injury lawyer and there has been an increase in e-scooter accidents in your city, publish a blog about it. Likewise, if you are an intellectual property lawyer and there is a big trademark case in the news, share your take on it. Piggyback off the popularity of the subject to steer traffic towards your website.
Success stories
There are many types of successes you can write about, such as case resolutions, goals you met, problems you solved, and projects you completed. Be sure to respect client confidentiality when publishing case studies.
Use free tools to generate blog topics
You can use free tools to generate blog topics, including ChatGPT. With ChatGPT, it’s all about the prompts. The better you write the prompts, the better ChatGPT’s suggestions will be.
Your ChatGPT prompt should be as detailed as possible and include the type of firm you are, your location, the blog’s purpose, and details about the clients you want.
Another free, simple tool to generate legal blog topics is Hubspot’s blog topic generator.
8) Blogging provides content for your social media accounts
The quest for fresh social media content is never-ending. Blogs make great content to share on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts. Regularly sharing your blog content on social media will broaden your reach and help you get noticed by potential clients.
9) Blogging is flexible – create a content schedule that fits your calendar and budget
How often should you blog? As often as possible, but only as often as you can produce high-quality content. If you can blog every day, then do it. However, most people don’t have the time or the budget for that. We suggest publishing a blog at least once every two weeks for the best results.
The important thing is to pick a schedule and stick to it. Google rewards consistency. However, be realistic about how often you can produce high-quality content. Don’t let the quality suffer in an attempt to produce as much content as possible.
Blogging more often will get you noticed by search engines faster. One great blog post won’t establish you as an industry leader, but consistency will.
Get expert help with your law firm blog
Hiring an expert to blog for you will get better results with less personal time investment. However, you must choose the right expert, or you will waste your money.
Signaigo Legal Content has a proven track record of ranking on Google for the most competitive search fields in the legal industry. Want to know how we do it? Check out our detailed guide.
We offer a complimentary consultation. You will receive a customized content plan tailored to your practice for free. Schedule your free consultation today because we have limited spaces available.