By Gina F. Rubel
Solo and small firm lawyers should blog if they wish to increase their online presence and relevancy. If you need convincing, read Why should lawyers take the time to blog?
There are several ways for solo and small firm attorneys to blog. One way is to contribute to a relevant public blog once a month and link back to the firm’s website. Another way is to develop a firm blog and populate it bi-weekly.
It is also important to understand that there are different types of blogs relevant to your target audience.
Types of blog content for lawyers
Two types of blog content have proven most effective for lawyers:
- timely posts about court decisions, legislative rulings, breaking news, etc., and
- evergreen blog topics that are general and can be posted at any time and still be relevant to your target audience.
Both types of posts are important for effective relationship development and legal marketing.
Breaking news blogs
If you are going to blog about topics that are current, you must write the posts and publish them in a timely manner. If you’re discussing a Supreme Court decision and how it affects the firm’s target audience, you want to get it written and posted within 24 to 72 hours of the decision (preferably closer to the 24-hour mark). Otherwise, it’s no longer news and will garner less attention. These are the types of topics we refer to in process as “topics that need to be shared ASAP.”
Evergreen blogs
Evergreen topics are vital to your content marketing plan. These usually address issues that you deal with every day, issues that can be discussed in general terms and that don’t change frequently. Think about the questions that your clients ask you regularly (aside from “how much will it cost?”). Your answers make for great evergreen blogs.
Evergreen blog content can be shared repeatedly over time, generating three and four times the amount of traffic and maximizing your investment in content marketing.
If you plan to develop a firm blog on your own, choose a blog URL and name relevant to your geographic region and/or area of practice. For more tips and instructions, see:How do you set up a free WordPress Blog?