Why Does My Law Firm Need an Online Blog?
Some lawyers are enthusiastic about the prospect of including a blog on their website. Many are not. Lawyers are already pulled in multiple directions on a daily basis. The responsibility to maintain a blog, while simultaneously building their practices, attracting clients, and actually practicing, can seem daunting to any lawyer. An effective legal blog writer will allow you to focus on what is important- practicing law.Nobody wants to spend what little free time they have during the week drafting a blog article. Why should a law firm website even have a blog, you may ask. We're here to tell you that a blog for your law firm's website that is updated with fresh, relevant content is not only important but also a necessary part of any law firm website.
Here are the Top Three reasons why Lawyers Should Blog:'
1. Bragging
One large advantage of having a blog on your law firm's website is to "brag" about your firm's successes, awards or cases won.Whether an attorney participated in community service, was referenced in a news article, or just had a newborn, blogging will give you a platform to show off your law firm's successes and news.
2. Search Engine Optimization
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you may ask? SEO allows your website to "rank" higher on Google and other search engines. The primary way to rank high on Google is to have quality content on your website that is updated frequently. That's why blogs are great for increasing the SEO for your law firm website! Google is key in this day and age.When someone types in "personal injury Tampa" or "immigration lawyer Spokane", you want your law firm to show up first! That lead is not just a random person referred to you by your local bar association-- that is a valuable lead who was actively looking for someone in your practice area in your geographic location. An experienced legal blog writer will help tremendously with SEO.That is a great potential client and it would help steer them to your law firm if your firm's website was at the top (or close to it) of Google.
3. Blogging is a Soft-Sell
A debate has persisted among advertising professionals over which advertising strategy is best: hard-selling or soft-selling. Hard sell strategies are aggressive and put a high amount of pressure on the client.Albeit this may work for those “in-your-face” personal injury television ads, our experience is that clients with legal problems are under enough pressure to begin with and oftentimes distrust or even resent hard sells. Often, potential clients are in a "bad place" and need to speak to an attorney to make things right- why aggravate them further with a hard sell? Soft-selling focuses on the relationship-building aspect of the consumer’s purchase of goods or services. You don’t want to put psychological pressure on potential clients. Instead, you find passive ways to show them that you have the legal solutions they need.A well-written blog post that provides value to the reader is an excellent form of soft-sell marketing that will turn your website’s visitors into calls and leads. When a visitor reads your blog article, there are two positive and immediate results from your post:
- You’re Establishing Your Authority Over Your Competitors -There’s no better way than blogging to establish your law firm’s online authority over your competitors. Sure, you may be a great litigator and win every case you've ever tried. That, however, is difficult to ethically advertise in most states. Additionally, you are not going to bore your potential client by showing them your winning Summary Judgment motion. That's why blogs are superior.
- You’re Building a Relationship of Trust – By providing helpful information to potential clients, you’re instantly building a beneficial relationship that can easily turn into an attorney-client relationship. It’s my experience that that client leads from our blogs tend to be very comfortable during an initial consultation because they feel that they’ve gotten to know us from our firm’s site and posts.
We welcome you to contact us with questions about our blogging services for law firms, as well as your specific goals. Hire a legal blog writer from Legal Verb today!