Millions of blogs written every day stand as a testament to what people want their audience to hear.
Whether they discuss personal opinions, political agendas or family adventures, they are, in effect, marketing a message and keeping the reader riveted to the page.
The reader may find the blog interesting enough to click on another of the author's blogs, just to see what they have to say about that subject.
These blogs create a following-a reason to revisit the website.
Attaching a blog to your firm's website is as easy as writing about your practice.
Short articles of 300-400 words (the average reader's attention span on the Internet) that teach the reader practical knowledge about your area of law (without "hard-selling" yourself as the perfect attorney), let the reader know that you want to help them without the added pressure of a formal appointment or a large consultation fee.
The blog builds trust so that when that client eventually does need you, they already trust you and feel comfortable talking to you.
Many attorneys involved in personal injury and estate planning are now including blogs under several topic areas on their websites.
Including multiple topics will increase the amount of traffic and referrals to your site and as a result, your practice.
For example, an estate planning attorney's blogs on Wills may include: 1) who needs a Will; 2) when you should make out a Will; 3) what can be included and excluded in a Will, etc.
The list is endless! More information on the website means the reader has more to review, bookmark, print out, forward, and question.
When a reader is presented information which causes them to question, it raises their level of attention.
This is the point where they will act and pick up the phone.
Before you worry that you have no time to write such things, relax.
Professional bloggers can take care of the burden for you.
Yes, you could get someone in your office to write them, but outsourcing the writing to professionals and using your staff for in-house review and posting is a better way to go.
The professional blogger should be well-acquainted with your subject matter and already accustomed to providing weekly blogs for several clients.
Whether you write the blog yourself, contract professional services or use a combination of both, the most important point to remember is...
keep it interesting! How? Write quality articles that are pertinent to the targeted reader's interests.
Keep 'em coming, too.
If the reader returns to your blog after a significant period of time and finds no fresh material, it may very well be their last visit to your blog.
Also, it's not a bad idea to state in the blog how often new material is posted, i.
e.
daily, weekly, etc.
If you do choose to write the blog yourself, it is always a good idea to let a proofreader give it the "once-over" before posting.
Modern word processors such as Microsoft Word are great, but they are not bulletproof in catching style and structural errors or suggesting simple improvements.
One last word of caution...
as you may already be aware, different state bars have varying levels of rules and regulations governing attorney advertising.
The safe bet is to avoid writing the blog with any hard or soft-sell language, but rather as an information source for the potential client.
How then can blogging be a marketing tool as this article's title suggests? Most bars address website advertising on a page-by-page basis.
So if the potential customer is visiting the blog page of your website and likes what they see, there's a good chance they will take a look at other pages as well-pages approved for advertising.
Just to be safe, check with your state's governing authority on the rules and regs related to website advertising or check with a web developer that produces websites for attorneys in your particular state (example of a soft sell for yours truly).
Happy Blogging!