5 Benefits of Blogging for Lawyers

People find themselves in need of legal advice all the time. For many people who find themselves needing legal information, the first step is a Google search. This is especially true for the young. When people are faced with any accusation, regardless of how serious or legitimate, the need for information is immediate and significant. The internet always provides the fastest answer.

What is legal blogging? 

Legal blogging is writing blogs surrounding legal topics. This can mean anything from an overview of libel laws in a given country to how to avoid copyright infringement. Pick any legal topic you could write a blog about, and you are talking about legal blogging.

For lawyers and other legal professionals, legal blogging has a lot of utility. You can demystify the complexities of the law for concerned readers. You can provide a glimpse into an aspect of the law and be the educator that someone needs. You will simultaneously make yourself or your firm more visible to internet users looking for legal information and advice. No matter whether you’re marketing your personal injury law firm or criminal defence firm, blogging is a great tool to consider. 

Legal blogging is useful for both lawyers and law students. It’s a process that is meant for establishing authority and trust. It also helps you reach out to potential new clients at a relatively low cost. With a complete and professional blogging infrastructure, a legal blog can come to create significant attention around a law firm.

Given these broad implications, it’s important to understand the specific benefits of legal blogging. There are several ways that legal blogging leads to increased trust and more clients.

The benefits of blog writing for lawyers

1. SEO 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of making your website show up as one of the first search results for a specific search. Your SEO ranking helps people find your blog, and by extension, your website.

When you have a website without a blog section, internet users will normally find you by searching you or your firm’s name. That’s great, but it implies one major shortcoming: only people who have already heard of you and your reputation will find you. 

If you write an optimized blog entry on a specific legal topic, users searching for that kind of advice may land on your blog. Those readers will then be on your website, and if your blog is compelling enough, they will stay and begin to take interest in what you can offer them.

Having people that have never heard of you landing on your website during their search for knowledge opens several new doors for them. They can be exposed to more similar content from you and establish trust in you and your practice. But getting new readers onto your site and building some connection from there is the first step before any meaningful action. This is why blogging with an SEO component is so effective.

2. Broad internet marketing opportunity

Having a legal blog opens the doors for a few new opportunities. Blogging is an inexpensive and far-reaching method of both education and marketing. You can promote your blogs for free alongside paid content on social media. You can also link to your blog on landing pages and other pages you use with paid advertising.

Blogs can be shared via email so you can keep your followers up-to-date with the most relevant issues you cover in your practice. Email marketing and blogging go hand-in-hand. That’s because it’s good to share educational or interesting content to your email list and not just use it to directly sell your services.

Broadly speaking, the internet marketing industry is changing. Personalization and branded content are becoming more important. Paid direct ads are still effective, but an online marketing plan is incomplete without the former.

So, you can tie your legal blog with other kinds of online marketing. You can build an email list, internally link different entries, and more. You can and should also share each new blog entry on all your social media profiles. Blogs are great as a standalone method, but they are especially useful in tying other online marketing methods together. 

3. Authority through education

Right now, accessible legal information is in high demand. Most people have a legal challenge to confront at some point in their lives. But the law can be mystifying to them. That’s why a blog can be so useful. You can educate more complex legal concepts without having to use less accessible legal vernacular.

The advent of legal blogging has already sparked greater interest in legal news and developments for those who don’t work in the legal profession. Legal news, as is often portrayed in the media, is often incomplete or sensationalized. As a trusted legal professional, you have the opportunity to break down the current legal news and make sense of developments that capture the public’s attention.

It’s important to remember that legal blogs do create new conversations. Professional input into news events established your authority in a confusing and frustrating media environment. Being in the position of a clear-headed professional that de-sensationalizes and demystifies legal news is a good place to be in for your image.

Beyond the news, people need simplified explanations of the legal concepts that affect them in their everyday lives. Writing for a legal blog is very different from the writing you did in law school. It provides you with a new kind of writing skill that enables you to reach out to potential clients. At the same time, it helps readers make more informed decisions while building authority by being their teacher.

4. Promote your mission & opinions

When you have a legal blog, you have another platform to make your opinions and values heard. On top of the marketing and educational opportunities, you can share insights on relevant issues. In a way, if you aren’t used to it, it can force you to analyze your own thoughts. You’re also forced to explain your take on an issue to those outside the legal profession while taking the time.

Legal blogging presents you with a medium to communicate your values to an audience that is interested in the law. Your insights and the way you reach your conclusions entice audiences when well-written. This process can be personally rewarding for you. But it also allows you to create/advance your brand in front of new audiences.

Branded content is a form of soft advertising where you write content that is primarily educational. However, while you educate your audience with easy-to-understand and engaging content, you can subtly promote your brand. You aren’t directly promoting your services, but you are communicating your values in a way that readers can appreciate.

5. Community

When you start legal blogging, you will quickly find the wider blogging community. By participating in that space, you gain exposure to those individuals, and you can find their work as well. This presents you with networking opportunities. Of course, you can also benefit from communicating with other active members of your field.

You will likely end up promoting your blog posts on social media pages as well. That’s a great way to promote your content at little or no cost. But while you’re doing that, you’re also participating in a wider online community. This is the perfect space to communicate with potential clients and with other legal professionals and students.

There are localized groups on social media platforms where people can post about legal concerns they have. Many of these groups are frequented by lawyers who can provide a little advice while also being able to promote themselves to some extent. Being active in these communities while having your blog attached to your profiles completes the picture connecting your blog with your other online outreach methods.

Blog entries often have comment sections at the bottom which can be used for questions. It never hurts to join the conversation. With measured and professional communication, online communities surrounding your blog can offer a lot of utility.

Legal blogging advice

There are a few ways to further maximize the benefits of running a legal blog.

1. Build a niche blog

Focussing on more specific subject matter lets your blog stand apart from other legal blogs more easily. This is natural for most people working in law, anyway. But to maximize the efficiency of any legal blog, specificity is helpful. 

In terms of SEO, it’s a lot easier to compete for traffic in very niche areas. The more specific a search is:

• The easier it is to rank high for relevant searches
• The more likely it is for people who find you to become more meaningfully affected by the content

Niche keywords don’t cast as wide a net as possible. But they catch the people that are more likely to be personally invested in the topic. 

2. Learn about blogging

This may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s serious.

Understanding the content matter of a blog is important for making the blog succeed. But understanding the purpose of a blog and how to achieve the most ideal outcomes is important if you want to make the effort worthwhile.

Legal blogs, like all other blogs, should capture online attention (SEO) and be readable to the average internet user.

3. Expand your reach

Blogging naturally plants a seed that grows to reach out to others. When blog content is meaningful to readers, they share it with others.

A large part of blog writing is reaching out to individuals in a way that speaks to them directly. In terms of legal blogging, a serious but sympathetic tone can go a long way.

The bottom line

Legal blogs are very simple. They demystify legal topics for the average reader. Most people don’t thoroughly understand the law, but most people require legal expertise at some point in their lives. 

A legal blog is a great way to capture more attention through SEO and contribute to a wider discussion. It’s also a great opportunity to reach out to potential clients with genuine advice. When done well, a legal blog provides numerous benefits.

If you’re considering posting more content on your blog, then you’re probably going to need a legal content writer. If that’s the case, then we’d love to hear about your legal content needs.