This post offers 11 evergreen page topics and 10 blog topics that estate planning attorneys can cover on their law firm websites, along with suggestions about how to get the most out of each proposed topic. [10-minute read]
Focus on targeting the search engine users that are most likely to become clients of your law firm — as well as the clients you would prefer to serve — when adding content to your law firm website.
Start by writing about more general topics on your site’s evergreen pages (those linked within your site’s primary navigation structure) and add increasingly specific information as your site continues to grow and develop over time.
The topic suggestions in this post can be interpreted and refined many different ways to appeal the potential clients your estate planning law firm wants to target.
When adding content to your law firm website, remember to link to other relevant pages on your site using a strategic internal linking structure.
Evergreen Page Topics for Estate Planning Law Firms
The evergreen pages of your site should cover information that is not likely to change over the long term. This includes general information about your practice area and the laws that govern it.
Unlike evergreen pages, blog posts should not be linked in your site’s permanent navigation. Since blog posts are continually pushed downward on a chronological feed on your site, they should be used to cover timely content or content that will otherwise have a shorter shelf life than the material offered on your site’s evergreen pages.
After you’ve added basic information about the laws governing your practice area to your site’s evergreen pages, drill down into specific information for each section by focusing on long tail search phrases that your potential clients or referral sources are likely to enter into search engines about those topics. Work on developing the evergreen pages of your site before transitioning to an aggressive blogging strategy to maximize the effectiveness of your firm’s content marketing.
The content of this blog post is not a complete list of topics that can be covered on your law firm website. Still, the suggestions included here could help improve your site’s online visibility for relevant queries performed in search engines.
Wills — Wills are a major component of any estate planning law firm’s business. Add content to your site about what makes a valid will, as well as circumstances which might cause a will to become invalid.
Get more granular — After adding basic information about making a valid will, add more content to the relevant pages on your site about challenging a will, who is capable of raising such challenges, and what the process for revocation of a will is likely to entail.
Advanced Directives & Living Wills — Offer an overview of ADRs, how they work, and how to obtain them.
Get more granular — Drill down into specific information about what can and cannot be included in a living will and anticipate specific questions your potential clients might ask about what living wills can cover, as well as reasoning that might justify certain decisions (e.g., religious beliefs that disallow certain medical procedures and interventions, etc.).
Power of Attorney — Define “power of attorney” for your potential clients and outline reasons why it might be a good idea to establish power of attorney before it becomes necessary (in case of accident or temporary disability, etc.).
Get more granular — Go over specific instances in which it may be necessary or encouraged that an individual establishes power of attorney, such as when a spouse is deployed overseas or for individuals who work in dangerous environments.
Trusts — Outline the differences between a will, a revocable trust, and an irrevocable trust for your potential clients, as well as circumstances which might call for each option.
Get more granular — Go into detail about what elements typically make up a valid trust, circumstances which might cause a trust agreement to be deemed invalid, as well as specific information about different types of trusts.
Planning for Incapacity — Many of your potential clients may understand the value of a living will due to the inevitability of death, but fewer are likely to plan ahead in case they are deemed unfit to manage their own estates. Offer suggestions for a clear path to prepare for mental and/or physical incapacity on your law firm website.
Get more granular — Go into detail about the potential downfalls of failing to prepare for mental incapacity ahead of time, as well as the benefits of being prepared for potential incapacity in the future.
Business Succession — Explain the importance and process of establishing the succession of a small or family business for your potential clients.
Get more granular — Discuss the potential pitfalls of failing to establish succession for a business and offer information about long-term succession planning as you continue to flesh out the content on your law firm website. You could also add information that covers the succession of specific business types (retail stores, restaurants, law firms, etc.) and sizes.
Probate Processes — Define the probate process and discuss how it works in your state. Offer definitions of important terms and outline steps in the probate process on your law firm website.
Get more granular — Get specific about what your potential clients can expect to experience in the probate process including potential costs, the powers and responsibilities of personal representatives, and potential delays in the process. You can also include specific information about individual probate courts in your region in order to make the process easier and less intimidating for your potential clients
Intestate Succession — If you fail to make a living will before you die, the state will make one for you. Define the process associated with intestate succession and outline the hierarchy of responsibility for that process in your law firm’s jurisdiction.
Get more granular — You can add more content to your site about how wills and trusts can help sidestep the default probate process in your geographical region of practice, as well as details about what distinguishes probate property from non-probate property and taxes and fees associated with intestate processes.
Comparisons to DIY Services — Attorneys are increasingly being forced to compete with Do-It-Yourself (DIY) legal entities. Provide direct comparisons between the services you offer and those offered by such DIYs on your site.
Get more granular — Write frankly about the DIY services you cover and avoid the temptation to be hyperbolic in this content (using words like “never” or demonizing such services in ways that may seem aggressive to your potential clients). Test the services out for yourself, identify pain points during the process and write content that addresses those pain points directly while using language that your potential clients might use when searching for information on those points.
Specific Information about Your Other Practice Areas — If your law firm specializes in other legal services in addition to estate planning it can be a differentiating factor between your firm and its competitors.
Get more granular — Offer information about how your tax, family, business law, or other legal experience overlaps with and supports your efforts as an estate planning attorney. Then add that information to the other existing practice area pages on your law firm website.
Posts geared toward specific audience personas — Not only will your potential clients be likely to search for information about specific types of estate planning services and processes, but they may also be inclined to search for information about how to help friends and family members obtain those services, or even how to obtain them on behalf of a friend or family member.
Get more granular — Offer information on your law firm website about how to help specific family members obtain specific services (“How to help my mother establish a will,” “What if my grandfather is declared mentally unsound and never established a living will?” etc.) and expand each section by offering content that is relevant to other family members (children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.)
Potential Blog Topics for Estate Planning Law Firms
Policy and law changes — When entities in your state adjust their policies, laws, or protocols in ways that are likely to affect all or some of your potential clients, it is a good idea to cover those changes and their potential effects on your blog.
High-profile will disputes — Celebrity deaths often lead to high-profile will disputes. Cover such instances on your blog with an eye on how your legal expertise can help your potential clients avoid similar situations.
Unique Trusts — Unusual trusts related to caring for pets, odd properties, strange collections, and more can provide interesting blog fodder for your law firm website.
Unusual case studies — When odd circumstances lead to unusual developments concerning estate law protocols and procedures (deaths that occur overseas, incapacitation following an accrual of wealth not accounted for in a will, a murder suspect is listed as the primary beneficiary of a victim’s will, etc.) it can both entertain and inform your readers if you cover such information on your blog.
Problems with the DIY approach — When DIY efforts go wrong it can present a unique opportunity to demonstrate to your potential clients how working with a lawyer could spare them and their family members stress and difficulty in the estate planning and probate process.
How financial trends could affect estate planning — Novel, unusual, and trending investment opportunities — such as the recent rise in interest surrounding cryptocurrency or the public’s fleeting fascination with Beanie Babies — can lead to interesting estate planning content on your law firm’s blog.
Young money — Often new financial trends lead to an uptick in news coverage of young people with new-found wealth, which could offer your law firm an opportunity to discuss the importance of beginning your estate planning efforts early on in life.
The effects of specific illnesses on estate planning and probate processes — Your potential clients may search for information about how specific illness such as Alzheimer’s or dementia might affect estate planning opportunities. Cover the unforeseen costs and effects of such illnesses on individuals and their families on your blog.
Where life plans and estate planning meet — Your potential clients may be thinking about retirement, saving for school or to start a business, or establishing a will, though they may not be aware of the possible overlap between such concepts. Offer that information on your blog and attract potential clients who may not have otherwise realized that they could benefit from the services of an estate planning attorney.
Life events— Discuss how the legal implications of major life events such as marriage, birth, death, divorce, starting a new job or career, buying a house, going to school, and more warrant discussions and consideration about estate planning services.
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