You’re a busy legal professional. You’ve got clients to manage, court appearances, research and research and research. Who has time to blog?
Well, you might not want to hear this, but you need to make the time. Blogs are number one for driving traffic to your site, establishing trust and authority, and landing leads. However, if you don’t want to make the time, there are some great options (ahem, like us) for outsourcing all your marketing needs
You’re just not going to escape the need for blogs in your law firm. They’re just that important.
One of the great things is that you probably already have a massive amount of content just sitting in your legal documents, your client emails and in-house communications that can readily be turned into blogs. So, look at the bright side. All that finger strain and knowledge poured out can fuel future blogs and a strategic marketing campaign.
Now, let’s get into the nitty gritty. We can push you to blog all day, but you need to know why it’s so important for your law firm. Here’s why…
Trust and authority
In the legal field, your clients need to know that they can count on your knowledge, skills and expertise. You can talk up your practice all you want but the proof is in the pudding. Think of it from your client’s perspective. If they came to your website and just saw you tooting your own horn with no content to back it up, they wouldn’t establish the kind of trust they need to reach out to you. Show them that you’re an expert, that you understand your legal field inside and out and that you understand their needs. Share stories that they can relate to – and how you would solve or approach the issue at hand. This can provide a level of solace to a potential client that makes converting that lead and done deal. Yes, you can accomplish all this and more through blogs.
Not only are trust and authority important to your clients, but they’re important to Google’s crawlers as well. SEO is about way more than regurgitating keywords. Google actually has algorithms to examine your authority and credibility. Write great blogs with relevant and informative content and boost your SEO. Speaking of SEO…
SEO
Hands down the best way to get yourself on the first page of search engines is through content. And for most law firms blogging is the best form of content to accomplish this. 96% of people are using search engines to find attorneys. 75% of people never look past the first page. Writing blogs that target the key questions that your potential clients are searching for will put you on their radar and drive all that traffic home.
Foster relationships, expand your reach
Consumers just don’t want to be “sold” anymore. They are savvier than ever and know when they’re getting a sales pitch. These days the best way to attract clients and build a brand is through relationships. You build relationships through content. This means providing content that speaks to your audience’s needs and wants, that meets them where they are and answers the questions that are on their minds. Do this and you foster relationships. Relationships lead to trusting and satisfied clients.
A cost-effective marketing strategy
The bottom line is always heavy on the mind of any business owner. Your law firm is no different. One of the best things about blogging is that it’s extremely cost-effective compared to other forms of marketing and offers one of the best ROIs of any marketing strategy. Valuable blogs also pay for themselves year after year. If you wrote about a particularly sticky issue that your clients are needing help on, you could see return traffic to this blog for months and years, helping you rank on search engines and building your authority.
Feed the content machine
With an effective content marketing strategy, it’s imperative to look at the big picture. Blogs are great, of course, you’ll never hear otherwise from us. But without an overarching campaign and strategy, you won’t utilize your blogs to their full effectiveness. Blogs can (and should) work in tandem with social media, newsletters, video content and any other piece of your overall marketing plan.
Are we blog-biased? Of course! But for good reason. Blogs are one of the best forms of content to drive quality traffic to your site, establish authority, and easily convert leads, not to mention they’re so dang cost-effective.
Bottom line. You need to blog. Hope we made that clear. Now, let’s talk content marketing strategy to give your blogs the best shot.