Archive for August, 2013

How to Choose Blog Post Topics That Attract Clients to Your Legal Blog

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Aug 23

Many lawyers choose topics for their blog posts based upon what they know. For example, you might know that one of the laws in your practice area is changing, and you may write a post or series of posts discussing the changes that are going to be made along with what the impact of those changes are likely to be. Perhaps your law practice just won a major victory for a client and you write a post about that. The aforementioned topics, while par for the course for law practice blogs, are certainly on topic. Unfortunately, they do not always grab the attention of the people whom you most want to read your blog – potential clients.

You can certainly still include posts on your blog about the aforementioned topics because they are of interest to you and to others in the legal profession, but be sure to mix in a heavy portion of posts that are of interest to potential clients. To determine what kinds of blog posts your potential clients would be interested in reading, all you have to do is think like a client. Clients call or email your law practice every day looking for answers to legal questions – what kinds of things are they asking about? These are precisely the kinds of things that make for excellent blog posts, blog posts that contain information that is helpful to potential clients and that let potential clients know that you are an authority on the things that matter to them.

For example, if you are an attorney who practices family law, potential clients may want to know how they should discuss their divorce with their children. A blog post that offers helpful suggestions as well as a list of resources for additional reading lets potential clients know that you are there to help them not only negotiate a favorable divorce settlement, but to guide them through the process and help them to manage the impact of their divorce on various aspects of their life. A personal injury attorney who specializes in car accidents could offer potential clients tips for dealing with insurance company adjusters. A post containing that information lets potential clients know that you are on their side, and looking out for their best interest before they have even contacted you about their case or retained you to represent them.

Potential clients take to the internet in order to look for information that is relevant to them. If the posts on your law practice’s blog answer questions for which your potential clients need answers and discuss topics that have a direct impact on their lives, they will read your blog post when it shows up in their search results. What’s more, they may return to your blog from time to time to see what other useful information you have written just for them. If they need a lawyer right now, they might call you. If they came across your blog when, say, they were contemplating a divorce or a bankruptcy, they just might contact you when it is time to take the plunge.

Now that you know what your clients want to read about, why not add a blog to your law practice’s website. For answers to all of your law practice blogging questions, speak with an expert not a sales representative. Call (800) 877-2776 today.

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How Law Firm Blogs Attract New Clients

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Aug 22

By now, you probably know that many law firms are attracting new clients by adding blogs to their websites. While that is good to know, you are probably wondering how a law firm’s blog attracts new clients. The short answer is that since blogs are constantly being updated with new content, they get more attention from search engines than websites to which content is added infrequently.

More attention from search engines translates into a higher position on the search results page when a potential client looks online for an answer to their legal question. When potential clients do research online, they usually begin with the websites that appear at the top of their search results. Sometimes, the first few websites that they click on do not answer their question, so they keep on trying until they find one that does. If your site is on the first page of search results, that potential client may very well find their way to your blog, where it is possible that they will find the answer to the legal question that they have.

So, a potential client finds an answer to their legal question on your blog. What happens next? It is possible that the potential client may click on some of the links in that blog post to read other content that could give them even more information about the question that they have. It is also possible; if you have included a clear call to action in each of your blog posts, that they will realize that they need the assistance of an attorney in order to resolve their legal issue. They might pick up the phone and call you, or they might fill out an online contact form so that you can contact them. In other words, a lead from a potential client is generated.

Once the phone rings at your office or the online contact form goes through to your email, the ball is in your court. Your law practice blog has just generated a lead, and it is up to you or others in your law practice to turn that lead into a client. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to help the process along without a hard sell. A good place to begin, since you know that the potential client has read your blog, is to listen to the particulars of their situation and then reiterate what they already know, namely, that your law practice can help them. For example, “Yes, we have experience with those types of cases”, or “Yes, we can help you with that”. This reassures the potential client that they have indeed contacted the right law practice for the job, and further builds their confidence in your law practice. At this point, you are well along the way to turning that lead into a paying client, all because your law practice has a blog that contains the answer to that potential client’s legal question.

Are you ready to start a law practice blog that will attract potential clients? For answers to your law practice blog questions, speak with an expert, not a sales representative. Call (800) 877-2776 today.

 

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Should Your Law Practice Have More Than One Blog?

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Aug 3

The most successful law practice blogs are those which are the most focused. When a law practice blog is regularly updated with information about a single practice area, that blog quickly becomes a wealth of information that is accessible to anyone who wants to learn more about that practice area. When a potential client searches online for an answer to a legal question and they land on your law practice’s blog, they will be impressed if they find an answer to their question. They will be even more impressed if they see a collection of blog posts that focus on different aspects of the practice area which is related to their question. A focused blog shows potential clients that your law practice is the go – to law practice in your local area for people who need help with questions just like the ones that they have.

Of course, many law practices handle cases in more than one practice area. This is as common for solo practitioners as it is for small, medium, and large law firms, especially in today’s economy. In order to survive, many law practices have started taking cases that are in practice areas other than the ones that they are known for handling. While this is the reality for many law practices today, it is okay if your law practice’s website and blog or blogs do not reflect that. In fact, openly stating that your law practice will help anyone, with anything, at any time can detract from the image of specialized expertise that your law practice has worked hard to build over the years. Keeping your blog or blogs focused, on the other hand, sets you apart from the crowd by portraying your law practice as an authority on specific practice areas.

How can you reconcile your desire to attract potential clients to all of your practice areas with your knowledge that law firm blogs are more successful when they are focused on a single practice area? Add multiple blogs to your law practice website. Having multiple blogs keeps your content organized by subject area, and it also makes it easier for potential clients to locate the information that they need. If a visitor to your website can easily access all of the content that pertains to them in one place, they will get the idea that your law practice specializes in helping people just like them get the legal help that they need.

If you do decide to add multiple blogs to your law practice’s website, take care not to add too many. If you only handle cases in a particular practice area once in a while, it is best not to devote an entire blog to that practice area. While you may be knowledgeable about that practice area, there is most likely a reason why you only take on cases in that area occasionally. By adding a blog for that practice area, you not only risk diverting attention away from your other blogs, but you also risk attracting clients in that practice area. By maintaining multiple blogs for the practice areas that are truly your law practice’s main focus, you will establish that your law practice is an authority in those practice areas, and you will attract clients in those practice areas.

Are you unsure about whether you need one blog for your law practice, or multiple blogs? We are here to help you. For answers to all of your law practice blog questions, speak with an expert, not a sales representative. Call (800) 877-2776 today.

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