By John Bowie. John Bowie publishes LawFuel and has written extensively about how law firms can market their services online effectively.
Law firm marketing frequently involves blogging – and rightly so – but if you want to get through the content clutter
on the Net and command attention what are the easiest ways of doing so?
Here are five ways your law blog can help command that attention and stand out from the crowd, easily and, most of all,
by providing real value to your blog readers.
1. Get a good headline.
It’s been stated over and again that a headline is the key to any story as any newspaperman,
let alone onine news writer, will tell you. Advertising guru David Ogilvie said that on average five times as many
people will read your headline compared to the body copy you have. So really focus on the headline and remember this
important point: people will read your blog post because of the headline that has attracted them, not because the
content is so darned good.
It is the headline that will help spread the word about your post – what will be shared on Facebook and elsewhere on the social
media. They frame the context of your post and its content so focus hard on getting a great headline.
When writing a headline you can use all sorts of (nice) tricks (that work), such as using numbers (“7 Ways to
Make Your Divorce Simple”), or pose questions (“Five Major Mistakes Your Business Is Making”).
If you want to check some great headline ideas get this book from Jon Morrow, which is 100 per cent free – Click Here.
And look at other headlines that catch the eye or have gone viral on the web. Look at their structure. Check them on
sites like the HuffingtonPost or Digg and see what’s catching the audience.
The use of numbers, capitalized first letters, direct ‘speaking to’ your audience careful use of superlavtives etc are all factors that will help
you get the most out of your heading.
2. Tell a good story.
These resonate with readers and help provide the connection that will create loyalty and trust
for your law firm. People love them and they want to hear case studies and real life examples to avoid or emulate.
If you’re too generic you lose interest. People don’t want preachy or disconnected stories they want real life examples
they can identify with.
3. Use experts.
There’s nothing wrong with placing links to others or quoting experts. In fact it helps generate even
more authority for what you’re writing and greater connectiveness generally. So cite experts and place them in your
posts.
4. Be original.
When you write somethng that you want to stand out then you can create something that is
random and fun, which will make the content more noteworthy. Be prepared to move away from just the traditional comfort
zone of “the law” by placing ideas in juxtaposition and with results that will intrigue and amuse and inform.
5. Write to your audience.
You want to write for an audience that you’ve idientified as typical of your clientele.
Don’t overwrite. Don’t preach. Just write a friendly piece that the reader/client/prospective client can identify with
and see your personality as someone they would like to talk with or use as a lawyer.
Remember that your key aim here is to connect at an emotional level with your readers/client. You want to engage
them and have them respond in one form or another. This is done by talking directly to them. Make sure you do.
Write as if you’re talking to one person rather than to a group and keep your content as interesting, personal and engaging as you can so that you develop not only your voice, but also your authority and trust.
Blogging and quality content will also win out over puffery and over- bloated claims about what you can do. Develop your content carefully and write so that you can impart genuinely interesting and useful material. You’ll build trust . . and your practice.
