4 reasons why attorneys need a blog

From your child’s health care provider to your local dog groomer, it seems like everyone has a blog. As an attorney and business owner, you understand the importance of being part of the conversation and creating awareness and engagement to grow your business. But you’ve always thought of blogging as being too time consuming.

While it’s true that blogging does require some planning, it doesn’t have to be the huge time commitment that some attorneys fear. When it comes to blogging, consistency is key – but thankfully brevity can also be highly effective (i.e. you don’t need to write a 1,000-word manifesto every week.) Often posting a new 250-500-word post once or twice per week is sufficient.

So, is blogging really worth it? Why are so many attorneys and law firms investing resources to build and maintain a robust blog? Below are four key benefits of blogging.

Connect with prospective clients

When today’s legal consumers encounter a problem, they’re likely to turn to the internet to research their issue and look for answers. Imagine if your firm just happened to have a blog post discussing the very topic with which someone needs help. Think about the immediate value you could provide and how doing so could build trust and forge a strong client relationship. With limited time and attention spans, it’s these types of experiences legal consumers crave. Give them the content they need when they need it by creating blog posts that answer common legal questions and provide real value.

Demonstrate your expertise

In addition to discussing common legal issues within your respective practice area(s), a blog provides excellent opportunities to demonstrate your expertise. Are you a family law attorney who specializes in child custody matters? Use your blog to discuss related issues that can affect custody outcomes. Draw upon your experience and knowledge to educate and inform. Need help generating blog topics? Think about your last five cases. What issues were clients facing? What important information did they need to know but didn’t? Providing this type of valuable content can help you and your firm remain top of mind when legal consumers need your help most.

Build SEO value

Search engines favor websites that have active blogs. Why? Because search engines like it when sites add unique and relevant content on a consistent basis. Doing so gets their attention, makes them want to crawl your site often, and encourages them to return your site in related keyword searches. Adding one or two blog posts per week is an effective way to boost your firm’s website visibility.

Generate social media fodder

Most attorneys understand the value of using social media to promote their firm. However, many find the task of posting and tweeting arduous. This is another time when having a blog pays off. Promoting your most recent post on social media is a great way to drive engagement on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and also drive traffic to your blog. On some platforms, you can even pay a nominal cost to promote and get more eyes on your post and to your site.

Need help starting or generating content for your firm’s blog? We can help. Learn more about FindLaw’s blogging solutions.