Whether you have had a website for your law firm for quite some time and are thinking about overhauling your online presence, or you're in the early stages of creating a website for your law firm, it's a good time to start thinking about a legal blog.
You might be thinking that a legal blog will take up a significant amount of time and ultimately not do much for your business in the long run, however, law firm blogs can be a key element of online marketing. Not only can a legal blog draw in potential clients and provide them with information about your knowledge and experience, but law firm blogs can also demonstrate your ability to stay current in the field and engage in dialogue with other lawyers who are working on similar cases and complex legal issues.
So, why start a legal blog? We have some helpful information for you about online marketing, creating an internet presence, and attracting readers to your law firm.
Blogs Are an Effective Marketing Tool
If you're just learning about online marketing for your law firm, you should know that blogs can be an extremely effective marketing tool. Unlike a hardcopy publication, your firm might put out or billboard or television advertisements your firm might pay to have produced, blogs are incredibly flexible. They can give you great control over how you ultimately market your law firm to the public. To be sure, while print and television advertising materials are, in effect, set once they're printed and released, you'll be able to update your blog as often as you want and make revisions or additions wherever you see fit.
For example, if you post a series of blogs and later learn more about search engine optimization (SEO) and keywords, you can update the blog post accordingly. Similarly, if there is an update to a recent case you blogged about, you can add an update to the page that clarifies the current law on the issue. No matter what kinds of revisions, deletions, or additions you want to make, a blog gives you the flexibility to do so without limiting your internet presence.
Legal Blogs Can Help Your Firm to Develop an Online Presence
Speaking of internet presence, a blog allows you to build an online presence and, thus, build your law firm's business. The more you're "findable" on the internet, the more likely it is that people will recognize your law firm's name and think of your practice when they're seeking legal representation or are lawyers themselves considering a move to a different firm.
Bring in Potential Clients to Your Website
Your blog is a great way to bring potential clients and visitors to your law firm's website. A potential client seeks legal information or representation in a specific field. In that case, that potential client probably doesn't know how to search for your firm. However, a potential client may search on Google or another search engine for information about their legal issue. The more legal blogs you write based on a specific legal topic or issue, the more likely you will appear in that potential client's search results.
For each legal blog post you create, you will give yourself one more chance to appear in an internet user's search results. While you'll undoubtedly need to learn more about SEO and how to ensure that search engines are crawling and indexing your blog posts, each new piece of content provides another opportunity to get "found" when someone types a keyword or keyphrase into a Google search bar.
Create Shareable Content
The more legal blogs you write, the better your chances of having those individual blog posts shared on social media. And the more you share on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, the better the chances are that someone will learn about your law firm. The more people learn about your law firm and look into your case record and commitment to your clients, the more business you'll likely get.
To be sure, blogs are perfect for sharing on social media. Regardless of whether you're crafting evergreen blogs that can be useful to readers for some time or writing newsworthy pieces about recent case decisions or pieces of legislation, you'll be putting information out there that can attract readers who click the link to your blog. When you craft your blogs carefully and include links to your law firm's website, those blog readers may click on the link to reach your law firm's website. From there, that reader can contact you to learn more about seeking advice or representation for a particular legal matter.
Show That Your Law Firm Has Its Finger on the Pulse of Current Legal Issues
Blogs can show potential clients, potential new hires, and other lawyers in the same field that your firm has its finger on current legal issues. While any legal commentary you include in your blog posts won't be peer-reviewed or appear in a law review issue or other legal journals, the blogging format still allows you to show that you're a leader in the field and to engage in dialogue with other practitioners. Whether you're writing an analysis of a recent court decision or considering how a new law is likely to be applied, you can show your readers that you stay up-to-date on legal questions and issues in your field and that you're prepared to engage in in-depth analysis when it comes to significant legal matters.
Attract Interest from Potential New Hires
If you're hoping to expand your law firm and hire new associates, your blog can be a great way to attract attention. A law blog can show potential new hires that you stay up-to-date on legal matters relevant to your practice, and it can also demonstrate that you understand what it takes to run a successful law firm in the twenty-first century. While technology and an online presence may not have been necessary even a decade ago, they're almost essential now for all smaller and mid-size law firms.
When you're considering starting a legal blog for your law firm, you'll need to consider various logistical and technical issues. Indeed, you'll need to choose a platform and consider web design, you'll want to create a blogging calendar with varied topics that are spaced out over time for the most influence and internet traffic, and you will want to learn more about how SEO works, and how to make your blog and your firm's website easily "findable" by potential clients. Yet all of these issues will come once you make the decision to start your legal blog. Once you've realized just how important a legal blog can be for your firm—the "why"—you'll want to begin working on actually getting your law blog up and running.
Get your law blog running with our Guide to Law Firm Marketing.
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