Content marketing is the most efficient way for attorneys to reach potential clients online. But content isn’t just words on a page to fill a space. There are two major kinds of content in content marketing, and both of them are an important part of online law firm marketing to attract and engage potential clients.
What Is Evergreen Law Firm Website Content?
Evergreen plants, as their name suggests, never lose their leaves and stay green all year long. Much like the evergreen tree, evergreen content on law firm websites is content that remains continually relevant year-round and long after it has been published. (It may also include information that is unlikely to change anytime soon.)
Evergreen content on law firm websites should give your potential clients information about the law, about your office, and about you. Just as with a blog post, evergreen content should be significant, useful and trustworthy.
Evergreen content can include:
- Information about types of cases your law firm handles
- Frequently asked questions
- Information about your path to the law
- What kind of experience you have
- Information about your law office
For example, information about your law office might include:
- Is your office on a street that’s hard to find?
- Are there landmarks that will help potential clients find it?
- What’s parking like?
- Does a potential client need their parking validated?
That’s the sort of useful information that makes it as easy as possible for potential clients to interact with you.
Why Do Lawyers Need Evergreen Content On Law Firm Websites?
Evergreen content is continually useful to your potential clients. It’s useful to your law firm, as well. Some may think that because content is published on the internet, it’s around eternally. But just because it’s “around” doesn’t mean that your potential clients will necessarily find it.
Attorneys should consider how potential clients find law firm websites and the likelihood that they’ll find your content.
That’s why evergreen content is such a valuable part of law firm websites. By writing about topics that keep their relevance over time (and, by naturally using keywords associated with those topics as you write that content) you create sustainable, substantive pages that search engines can index and provide to search engine users in results pages.
Evergreen content gives your potential clients what they need to know, increases your authority, and encourages clients to engage you. It can save time and effort when used resource for potential clients who need more information. Evergreen information isn’t limited to text: multimedia such as videos and infographics can also be part of your evergreen pages and content.
How Do Blog Posts Attract Potential Clients To Law Firms?
Your potential clients use search engines to research their case or problem and to help them determine what they need to do next.
They may stumble upon evergreen pages on law firm websites this way. But they’re also asking questions to search engines that are suited for blog posts. Blogs are a great way to attract potential clients by answering the questions they’re asking right now.
Not only do potential clients use search engines to ask questions rather than to hunt for keywords like “DUI Attorney Florida,” but they also ask unusual questions. In fact, the majority of Google searches that are completed each day are new to the search engine itself — they’ve never been asked before.
Blog posts are a good way to address these sorts of questions with answers that can give potential clients a sense of what they need to do next. Attorneys can also use their blog posts to drive traffic back to law firm websites, toward the evergreen content you’ve written.
Consider the questions a potential client may ask you while you’re sitting face-to-face with them. If you’re a DUI attorney, perhaps you’ve recently been asked a question by a potential client about whether they’re allowed to move out of state if they’ve been arrested for a DUI. (If they can, are there specific limitations to where they can move or what they can do? Do they need to inform the court if they move? What happens if they miss a court date?)
These are the sorts of questions that your potential clients need answers to, and blog posts are a perfect way to write about timely information that may interest them or affect them.
What Makes Blog Content Different From Evergreen Content?
Blog posts are a meaningful part of your online presence. While evergreen pages provide long-lasting information that is unlikely to change, blog posts may not contain static information and your blog will continue to show new information as you publish more posts.
Imagine standing on a bridge that overlooks a stream in a forest. While the trees stand static around you, different objects will move downstream and at different rates as the stream’s speed changes. The stream, from day to day, might change as you observe it.
Blogging has a similar quality. Evergreen content is like the evergreen trees in this scenario. But blogging isn’t static. From moment to moment, the topics may change, as may the length of the posts themselves and the frequency of publication.
(We recommend a regular blogging schedule to maximize the effect of your online marketing. To learn more about content planning, watch our on-demand Content Planning Clinic.)
As you publish each new blog post, the one written before it is pushed down further in the queue. Blog posts generally deal with current events and other things happening right now.
However, they can also cover specific and complex questions that your potential clients may have. For example, a divorce attorney may find a blog-worthy post in a high-profile celebrity divorce. A DUI attorney may want to write a post for parents at the beginning of a new school year about common ways underage drinkers can get into trouble at college.
Whether you’re writing about events in the news, statistics that are likely to change over time (but are relevant to your practice), or any other current trend, these are all blog-worthy items that can capture new, qualified potential clients.
LawLytics makes content marketing easy.
Content marketing outperforms other legal advertising. LawLytics provides your law firm with evergreen content and blog posts that can drive traffic to your law firm’s website and generate revenue for your firm, without bogging you down with terms like SEO, and without causing your firm to rely on costly, disposable advertising like pay-per-click.
To learn more about how we can help your law firm succeed and grow, click here to schedule a call with us.
