Why should solicitors bother with a blog? Isn’t it just another time wasting idea? Will it ever bring in new clients to the practice? Well here are 10 reasons why you may well think differently about a solicitors blog….
Forget the word blog. Forget everything you have ever read about blogs or thought about blogs. Come to this with a fresh mind and remember that all we are talking about is winning you new clients and new instructions in the most cost effective methods possible. This is just the same when talking about law firm blogs, so with that in mind, please read on!
1. Your Expertise
Everything I share with solicitors in terms of marketing their law firm revolves around one core message: “Proving their expertise in their chosen area(s) of law.” What better way is there of doing this than commenting on any topical legal issues that appear in the press? Do you have in place a very quick and easy way of achieving this? This is what a legal blog can do for you. Within seconds of reading an article that makes your blood boil, or irritates you enough to say “No, that is not right” you could air your considered legal opinion on your blog and allow the rest of the world to see it.
‘Clients first’ is my marketing mantra. So if we think of clients first, if they are reviewing your website and your main competitors, and they can see that you have commented on recent topical issues and your competitor just has some very mundane ‘sales pages’ which go no way to proving their expertise, who goes to the top of the queue now?
2. Press Quotes
Not only will your clients find your blog posts, but also freelance legal journalists will be all over the internet researching different topical matters. If they keep finding your solicitors blog, who do you think they are going to ask for quotes?
3. Other Solicitors
If a firm of solicitors is approached by a client on a matter they cannot help them with, yet they want to take care of their client and ensure they refer them to the best firm for them, they will often use the web to find the right firm. Who will they choose, the firm with one sales page or the firm with sales pages and lots of comments on the legal issue in question?
4. Updating Your Website
If you want to get to the top of Google for more related search terms than you are currently doing, YOU MUST ADD REGULAR CONTENT TO YOUR WEBSITE! If you are not able to do this with your current website, you can easily arrange for some free blog software to be added to your website and then you instantly can add new content whenever and from wherever you like (with an internet connection). There is no need for expensive software, no need for website design skills and suddenly your website becomes interactive and will grow month on month!
5. Lead Generation
Fact: adding a regular blog post (say once a week) WILL increase the number of visitors to your website. If you add a consistent Call To Action (such as “Call us free on XXX or complete a short online enquiry” at the end of every blog post, YOU WILL receive more enquiries for your services.
6. Build Relationship With Prospects
When your blog attracts new visitors, as it undoubtedly will, you can add a simple form to the website allowing visitors to sign up for your blog update alerts. You can use the software I recommend and use for my notifications, Aweber (click to see a special trial offer) and before you know it you will be emailing hundreds of people every time you post a new blog. Suddenly your blog has created an email marketing list that allows you to prove your expertise and brings more leads to you!
7. Search Facility
Decent free blog software like WordPress contains a great search facility, so visitors can easily search for content related to the subject matter they are interested in. This makes your website more “sticky/user friendly”.
8. Categories
In addition to the search facility, you can also create and add your blogs to specific categories (created by you). This is incredibly simple, just a click of a tick box when you are ready to post your latest blog. You can add a blog to more than one category so you can soon fill each category to engage your visitor.
9. Scheduled Publication Of Content
Google loves new content, but it also likes regular new content. If you like to do your legal writing in bulk, the beauty of WordPress blogging software is that you can schedule the release of your blog posts for the date and time of your choice. So you can do all of your articles in one go, yet release them bit by bit over the course of the month. You can then do the same with your email announcements to your email listing using Aweber.
10. Comments On Your Solicitors Blog?
For each blog you post, visitors have the chance to add comments. Each comment is new content for Google to devour and shows your legal website is attracting interest and more visitors, so it rewards you by sending you even more visitors! P.S. Don’t worry, you choose to approve or decline the comments before they are published to your website.
10+1. Amount Of Content
OK so technically this makes 11, but I always prefer to under proimse and over deliver…. Generally for an article to be informative it needs to be 400 words or more. A blog can be one sentence or two paragraphs, the important part is more the frequency of adding new content as opposed to the amount of it. So you can add content quickly and easily!
You Need A Legal Blog!
This item merely scratches the surfaces of solicitors blogs. If you want to find out more about why every solicitors practice must have a blog, download my free and more comprehensive guide to solicitors blogs by adding your details to the instant download form below.
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