A critical aspect to getting your law firm more visibility online is a sound content strategy. This wasn't always the case. There was a time that you could put up a static website, a site that never changed and never had new content added to it, optimize the pages, build some links and get found through the search engines. That time has passed.
What Does A Content Strategy Include?
A sound content strategy has a few major components:
- Consistency - You need to add new content to your site on a regular basis. Whether you are adding blog post articles or more permanent pages doesn't matter. The important thing is that you are doing so on a regular basis.
- Make It Topical - It is important that you are adding relevant content to your practice. This may seem like a no-brainer, but I have seen many law firm blogs that stray too far from the basis of their practice. Your law firm blog, if you intend to use it to drive more potential clients, should be topical to your practice. You may be interested in writing about Twitter and Blogging for lawyers, however, if you intend to use the blog as a vehicle to get more clients this shouldn't be the primary focus. Of course, a post once in a while about something you like is great and gives your blog a personal touch, just don't make it the majority of your content.
- Use Keywords - It's a good idea to do some research and find out the types of keywords searchers are using to find your services online. Integrating relevant keywords into your writing, in an elegant way, helps to get your content found more easily.
- Unique Content - Make sure you are writing unique content. Duplicating content will get your content de-indexed by Google. If it doesn't show up in the search results than it doesn't do you a whole lot of good.
- An Easy To Use Content Management System - Make sure your website or blog is set up on a system that is easy to add content to. There is an abundance of terrific, free systems you can use so that adding content is as simple as typing it out and clicking publish. We prefer WordPress, but there are many good ones out there. If you have to hard code your content and manually upload it, you are making your life far more difficult than it needs to be.
- Make It Interesting - Your content should be helpful, educational, and engaging. No one wants to read about how great your firm is. They care about themselves. Give them useful information and show them that you know something about your field.
What Does A Good Content Strategy Do For Me?
A good content strategy can do a number of things for you
- It can help build links to your site which will give your site more trust and authority in the eyes of Google (which will get you ranked higher).
- It engages your audience making them more likely to take an action such as calling your or filling out a form on your site.
- It increases your site's footprint on the web. Each time you add another piece of content, you are creating another outlet for a potential client to reach you.
What If I Don't Have The Time?
There are services that can help guide you in the right direction, supplement the content you already produce with additional content, and create content for you. One of our favorites is We Do Web Content. Feel free to contact us for some advice or strategy ideas regarding content for your website.
