There are lawyers on every street corner, it seems.
While your law firm has a share of success and has been building a good word-of-mouth reputation for quality, you do understand that it is a digital world these days. And with many using computers and the Internet to read about various attorneys and law firms, you understand the inherent value of having a website presence on the information superhighway.
But that’s not all. You may have some competition locally that you are beating, but once you establish a web presence, you suddenly get into competition with many other law firms in your county or state, not to mention elsewhere in the world. Having a blog can be an important way to show browsers that your law firm is open for business and ready to accept clients. But maybe you think you are too busy for such a thing; maybe you’ve had success by WoM marketing, also you don’t see the point in spending time blogging.
Here are four reasons why you should strongly consider attaching an active blog to your law-firm website.
- Search doesn’t care about your offline reputation.
Word-of-mouth only takes you so far. Search algorithms do not care that you are the No.1-rated law firm in your region; they only care about keywords, relevant local terms on your pages, and as many pages as you can create. The “larger” your website is, the more “reputable” your site looks to the search algorithm. And each blog that you make is considered an additional page of your site, making it “larger.” And the algorithm loves the most recent content; you may not update your website content very often, but a blog post every two or three days makes your site seem “recent” and thus more relevant to searchers.
- Even a niche can mean more business.
Because the digital universe is so much larger than your local one, you can use blogging to “specialize” in order to attract a certain niche of client. Even a niche that has been 10 percent of your business can double your business based simply on scale. Splitting your practice areas and writing about specific niches that speak to a certain type of client can help you in a couple of areas – first, you can find areas of law where there isn’t as much comment about it, and it’s one that is often searched for. You could fill a void with your blog, which the search algorithms will appreciate. The other way it helps is …
- Respect Your Authority!
Blogging gives you an opportunity to show your authority as an “expert” in certain aspects of law. If you personally specialize in a particular area, especially one that is relatively under-covered online, then you have a golden opportunity to sell yourself to a digital audience about your expertise in the law by covering topics that may be often inquired yet you can provide unique perspective. And the right kind of headline will enhance that attention – click bait wins as long as it’s consistent with your topic.
- Share your knowledge and get shared.
In a digital world, knowledge and expertise are king. And one of the best ways to generate traffic to your website (which is the point of the site) is to have current content with active users. It is one thing if 100 people visit your blog and read your article. It’s another thing if those 100 people find it so compelling and authoritative that they each share it with 10 of their friends on Facebook or Twitter. Then those 10 people then share it with five others, and so on. The more shares you get, the more traffic you get, which means the more interesting your site become to search algorithms, which means it’s more likely your site get placed higher on search results – which then means more prospective clients seeing your site and inquiring about your service and how you can help them. Sharing knowledge is a way of serving your audience, and that is why you’re in the business anyway, isn’t it?