If you are planning to publish blog articles often, you need to put some thought into planning those articles.

There are many benefits of blogging for attorneys, but choosing law firm blog topics, and writing content for legal clients can see overwhelming at the outset. In this post we give some great tips for blogging designed to help you create effective law firm blog posts.

Planning your content will not be very helpful if your readers are not relating to your content. Publishing content that does not inspire or educate your potential clients is not likely to influence them to contact you.

Here are five things to think about before you publish the next blog post for your law firm:

Does this post have purpose for my potential clients?

There are lawyers that publish blog articles on topics they are interested in, rather than what their clients are interested in. While there must be enjoyment in writing about such topics and some might find that post to be an interesting read, it will not forge the connection with your potential clients you are going for.

A post may be on an interesting legal topic to you, but if it doesn’t pique the interest of your potential law firm clients, then the effort you put into writing it may not benefit your law firm.

Your content needs to have a positive effect on prospective clients. Does it teach the potential client something new? Does it inspire a potential client to reach out to you? Does your post help a potential client solve a legal issue? For example, an attorney specializing in DUI law might write an article about “What To Do If You Fail A Field Sobriety Test,” or “How To Protect Your Rights In A DUI Traffic Stop.

Articles like this are informative and educational blogs about legal services, or provide legal “advice” online. They, and in turn, you provide relevant information to those who are seeking it. If the topic of your post is specific, then it is more likely to attract qualified potential clients to your law firm.

Will the right potential clients read my blog post?

Yes, it is impossible to please everyone, but that’s no reason to resort to dull, generic content.  Broadly-written, non-specific blog posts are not going to generate the qualified traffic that will benefit your law firm. Gaining traffic for the sake having of traffic becomes a meaningless metric. The volume of traffic your law firm’s website is not a useful indicator of how many visitors will convert into actual, qualified new clients for your firm. Don’t write articles to attract traffic, write them to attract your ideal client.

Take a little time to think about your ideal prospective client. Many attorneys find it beneficial to create client personas to tailor your law firm blog posts to.

Am I including images or infographics with my law firm blog post?

Images can help or hinder the success of your blog articles. If you choose images are not relevant to to the content you’re writing, it can be confusing, and even distracting. Images, used properly, can be an additional opportunity to keep your prospective clients informed. Sometimes, images can intensify the impact of your posts in ways that plain text content cannot.

Images can amplify the impact of topics that may be difficult to understand without a visual. Images can also provide important data that would be difficult to explain in text to give even more insight to a topic.

Think about the blog post example we used above, “What To Do If You Fail A Field Sobriety Test.” Perhaps your post gives three suggestions the reader should take. A quality infographic can explain a concept to your reader quickly, and more efficiently, and may even help them remember what to do in the future.

Often website visitors simply scan posts and pages for the information they need. They do not  want to waste their time. Giving your potential clients choices is always a good idea. When they know your firm can be relied upon you to give them content in various formats, they’re much more likely to find something to connect with you over.

What are competing law firms writing about?

Sometimes, we can benefit from reading the writings of people that both influence and challenge us to compose better posts. Before you click “publish” on your law firm’s next post, Google the  topic you had in mind to see what your competition is writing on the same subject. This is an important part of the content strategy process for attorneys.

Do you agree or disagree with what they’re saying? Have they published an article that does not fully explain everything a prospective client should know? This is a huge opportunity for you to attract new clients to a blog post you’ve written that surpasses the quality of an inadequate one. It is imperative that you do; a prospective client is far more likely to select a law firm that gives them more information, not less.

Am I optimizing the titles and sub-headers of my law firm blog post?

Often search engine users prefer to skim content. They are hunting for that pearl of wisdom that helps them come to  a decision. It’s important to write headlines that grab your reader’s’ attention, and sub-headers that tell the reader what to expect they will learn from your content. This enables them to quickly and easily locate exactly what they need. Visitors to your law firm’s blog may elect to read more if you can capture their interest. Informative, optimized headlines and sub-headers help a search engine decide when content is relevant to a search. This allows users to see, in a few seconds, if they want to read your article.

Does your law firm website need content? AdInfusion can help.

Strategic content marketing attracts the qualified potential clients to your website and can convert them into potential clients. Whether your law firm needs a website and content to accompany it or you’d like to add additional content to your site, we’re here to help. Our content marketing department provides spectacular evergreen pages, blog content, and digital marketing collateral such as ebooks and email newsletters.

To learn more about our content creation services or how we can improve your law firm’s marketing, contact us.