Evergreen content–also called substantive content–is the backbone of your law firm’s website. It’s the content on your website that doesn’t change frequently and therefore remains consistently relevant to your potential clients. Well-crafted evergreen content answers potential clients’ most important questions. When evergreen pages are done right, they can help to differentiate you from your competition.
Some law firm websites either don’t have the evergreen pages that answer potential clients’ questions or the evergreen pages aren’t written in a way that engages potential clients and drives new business.
Here’s why evergreen pages are important for your law firm’s website.
Key evergreen pages for law firm websites
Evergreen pages explain what you do and how you can help a potential client.
The basic evergreen pages that help a potential client understand what you do and how you can help them are:
- About your firm
- Attorney bio page(s)
- Office location(s)
- Recommendations
- Case results, deal flows, etc.
- Practice area pages and detailed law pages
- Local pages
- Q&A pages
For a quick introduction to creating engaging evergreen pages, check out:
“5 Important Pages for Law Firm Websites” and “4 More Important Pages for Law Firm Websites.”
Why evergreen pages matter for your law firm’s website
If done well, evergreen pages can be a useful way to market your law firm and drive new business. They can turn your law firm’s website into an appreciating asset while providing value to your potential clients. By answering potential clients’ most important questions (more on this later), you can help them see why your law firm is uniquely positioned to help them with their case or matter, and you can make it more likely that they will choose your law firm over a competitor’s.
Sometimes, attorneys let their evergreen content get in the way of launching a new law firm website. They may worry that they don’t yet have “enough” content to launch.
Evergreen content is most effective when there is a large volume of it. When new information and new pages are published often, attorneys can turn their law firm’s website into a go-to resource for potential clients. But a basic foundation of evergreen pages, appropriately structured for long-term growth, is sufficient to successfully launch a new website. From there, attorneys can build on that structure over time to develop highly detailed pages on a variety of topics related to their practice area.
Evergreen pages are one part of an effective content marketing strategy for your firm. A consistent stream of relevant, compelling blog content will also improve your ability to engage potential customers and differentiate your firm from its competitors.
To learn about the difference between evergreen content and blog content (and why they both matter), check out “Why Law Firm Websites Need Evergreen Content & Blog Content.”
Why evergreen pages matter to potential clients
Evergreen pages help answer potential clients’ important questions. The key to writing effective evergreen pages is to think about the mindset of your potential clients.
Attorneys sometimes assume that potential clients are solely focused on where the attorney went to school, where they graduated in their class, and what awards they’ve received.
However, before a potential client considers any of that information, there are other things they’ll want to know, first. Your potential clients have a hierarchy of needs, and your evergreen pages should be written in a way that addresses those needs.
Your potential clients want to know that you care about them and their problem. They want to know that you are enthusiastic about what you do, and that you will be enthusiastic when you help them. They also want to know why they should choose your law firm over a competitor.
Examples of problematic evergreen pages
For example, the “About Us” and attorney bio pages are some of the most-visited pages on a law firm’s website. Yet sometimes, they don’t address a potential client’s needs.
Both pages are often little more than an uninspiring recitation of facts and accomplishments. Many of them are written in a way that will appeal to other attorneys, rather than to potential clients. Sometimes these pages are even so vague that they don’t explain what’s unique about a particular law firm, and they don’t give a potential client a good reason to choose that law firm over a competitor’s.
Think about what makes you different from your competitors. What is the unique benefit to a potential client if they choose your firm? Then read over your content and consider whether your content actually helps answer those questions.
Finally, ask yourself: “Would I understand this if I didn’t have a legal background?” For example, you might explain why a particular award or accolade mattered, and what it meant to you to receive it. Or replace complicated legalese with terms your potential clients can easily understand.
Similarly, evergreen practice area pages that aren’t sufficiently explanatory don’t meet your potential client’s hierarchy of needs. Your potential clients are likely to have specific questions about their case or problem, and they want to know that you care enough to give them the information that they need about a particular issue If your practice area pages act more as an advertisement than as an educational resource, you are likely to disappoint potential clients who are in need of real, actionable information.
As you write, keep your potential clients in mind. Are you answering their important questions? Are you using words and terminology that they can understand? Could a potential client without a legal background come away from reading one of your pages with a new understanding about their case or problem?
Create evergreen pages that bring in new business.
Ready to turn your evergreen pages into effective marketing tools that help you engage new clients? LawLytics offers easy-to-use website and blogging tools that help busy attorneys create compelling evergreen pages and blog content without struggling with complicated technology that doesn’t work for law firms.
