For attorneys who want to compete in today’s legal market, a blog is a must-have.
“About half of my new clients find me because of my blog,” says Attorney Ruth Carter in an article about why lawyers blog. “It gives me a way to showcase my knowledge in my practice areas as well as my personality so when clients meet with me they already have confidence that I can help them with their specific problem.”
Carter’s assessment makes a lot of sense. Blogs allow you, the lawyer, to:
- Educate others
- Address topics of interest to your potential clients
- Exercise your writing skills outside of the law
- Demonstrate who you are as an attorney
- Help potential clients find answers to their questions
The best part of blogging is that it leads clients to do one very important thing: engage your law firm. Here are some other reasons why blogs are an important part of your law firm’s marketing strategy.
Law Firm Blogs Create Trust & Authority
It’s not enough to say you’re the best lawyer in your particular practice area. Your potential clients expect proof. One great way to give them this proof is by blogging on your law firm’s website.
Thought Leadership Is Vital For Attorneys
What is thought leadership? Published authors are thought leaders. So are people who have given TED talks. And “thought leader” can be applied to attorneys who blog. A Forbes article on the subject makes a smart point about what thought leadership should comprise:
As the name suggests, it requires two things:
Thought. Ask every possible question and ignite the critical-thinking process, which is a prerequisite for asking the right questions.
Leadership. Write with passion as an informed opinion leader to become the go-to-person in an area of interest or expertise. Thought leadership is a pursuit that is more about growth, innovation, and creating opportunities.
It starts when an idea is kindled, and it doesn’t stop when the fruits of that idea is delivered.
Thought leadership builds new opportunities to connect with potential clients and referral sources. It turns happenstance (“Can I get clients online? How do I do that? Will clients find me on the web?”) into a well-prepared opportunity for someone to engage your firm (“I know how to get clients online.”).
Attorneys Build Relationships and Expand Their Reach When They Blog
Right now, a potential client you haven’t met yet is typing a question into Google. It’s a question you can answer — but if you haven’t written about the topic in an informative and compelling way, that potential client won’t find you because Google will show other articles that do address the potential client’s question. Your potential clients are research their cases or problems on the web. Some do this before they decide if they even need to hire an attorney. Providing them with information that helps them understand the problem they’re facing — and what to do about it — helps establish trust with that person. When it comes time to pick a lawyer to represent them, you’ll be at the forefront of their mind.
Blogging also encourages people to share what you’ve written with others. Did you write about something that’s highly shareable? Maybe you’re a divorce attorney and you write a blog called, “Is Covid-19 causing marital problems? What we’re seeing.” If you provide insights and information that is useful, or novel, readers will share with others, and may post it on social media or cite it in their own blog posts. This increases your credibility not only about the topic of that particular blog post, but as an authority on marital problems in general.
Blogging also encourages discourse, whether on social media or in the comments section of your blog (LawLytics law firm blogs have built in commenting and easy comment moderation).
Writing about topics that people want to discuss can draw a lot of attention to your work. And a single well-written blog post, can establish an attorney’s reputation and even result in a significant and sustainable increase of business.
Law Firm Blogs Get SEO Benefits, No Technical Knowledge Required
Despite confusing messaging by marketing agencies suggesting they’re different things to be purchased, search engine optimization (SEO) and content are inextricably paired. Content is the cause, and SEO is the effect. A search engine optimized law firm website is one that attracts potential clients via the search engines. Content, including blog posts, is the dominant cause of online legal marketing success, and nothing else comes close.
By blogging on their law firm’s website, lawyers naturally end up having great SEO. Lawyers who use LawLytics for their law firm websites and write with the intention of communicating directly with their potential clients get better results than lawyers who don’t write at all, or write and rely on an agency to “do” SEO for them. They can focus on writing meaningful content for their potential clients without worrying about technical details.
Legal Blogging: Great For Business (and Maybe Even Fun)
As a lawyer, your voice and your ability to translate legal concepts into words that are understandable to laypeople is a superpower that you can’t be delegated to a non-lawyer. When you use your voice by writing on your website and blog you’ll see a cascade of benefits including:
- More potential clients engaged with your firm.
- More engaged, qualified and knowledgeable clients.
- Easier sales and expectation management processes with clients.
These things result in more revenue and a better quality of life within the practice of law. When attorneys see the direct causal relationship between their content creation and these benefits, they realize how rewarding it is. And for many attorneys this success makes it feel worthwhile and even fun.
What Lawyers Should Write About On Law Firm Blogs
Your potential clients ask Google questions like they would to another human, and Google continuously refines its software to better parse the nuances of language and human intention. Today, Google is so advanced that all you have to do is answer those questions using the same language you would if engaged with them in conversation.
Legal blog topic selection is easy when you listen to the questions and concerns that your potential clients have, and you apply those questions to different fact patters, strategies, observations from court, case studies, laws and procedures, legislation and current events. Anything that your potential clients and clients might find interesting or useful is potentially fruitful.
Learn About Legal Blogging
If you are an attorney interested in starting to blog, or in taking your blogging to the next level, we recommend doing a 20-minute interactive demo of the LawLytics platform to understand how easy it is to succeed. And, more information on the subject, wee the following popular articles:
