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How Do You Write Content for a Law Firm?

How Do You Write Content for a Law Firm?

Posted on by David B. Arato

When it comes to marketing legal services, things are different than they are in other industries – especially when it comes to content. Law firm marketing is subject to certain restrictions, and they go far beyond making sure that the legal information on a firm’s website is accurate. For example, you can’t use language that implies a guarantee of a certain outcome. Similarly, in most jurisdictions, you cannot call yourself an “expert” or a “specialist” in a particular area of law.

When it comes to how you write content for a law firm, you need to know the law, how to do legal research, advertising regulations, and SEO best practices. After years of helping attorneys get to the top of the search results for valuable keywords, I’ve leadualrned that legal content creation requires a unique blend of skills that most general writers simply don’t possess.

Legal content marketing isn’t just about good writing—it’s about mastering a complex set of rules while still producing effective marketing materials. This delicate balance requires specialized knowledge that bridges legal expertise and marketing strategy, setting the stage for what I like to call “The Dual Audience Challenge.”

The Dual Audience Challenge

Here’s the thing about legal content that makes it so tricky: you’re always writing for two completely different audiences simultaneously. 

On one hand, you need other attorneys and legal professionals to respect your expertise and potentially refer cases your way. On the other, you need potential clients—who might not know a tort from a torte—to actually understand what you’re talking about.

Content for law firms with a torte and a confused and frustrated lawyer

This isn’t just challenging; it’s the fundamental puzzle that shapes everything about legal content creation. Too technical, and you’ll lose potential clients. Too simplified, and you might sacrifice credibility with other legal professionals.

I’ve seen brilliant attorneys struggle with this balance. They’ll write something perfectly accurate that no potential client would ever finish reading, or they’ll oversimplify to the point where other lawyers would question their expertise.

The sweet spot exists, but finding it requires intention and practice. 

Don’t Forget About Google!

While balancing the needs of both legal professionals and potential clients is challenging enough, there’s another critical player in this equation: search engines.

The best legal content in the world is worthless if no one can find it. This means understanding how Google evaluates legal content specifically—and it’s not just about keywords anymore. For legal topics in particular, Google scrutinizes content for what they call “E- E-A-T” (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).

I’ve seen meticulously researched articles from prestigious firms languish on page five because they ignored search intent or failed to structure their content properly. Conversely, I’ve watched smaller practices outrank industry giants by strategically organizing their expertise in ways that search engines can easily interpret.

This isn’t about keyword stuffing or technical tricks. It’s about demonstrating genuine expertise in ways that both humans and algorithms can recognize. Success requires understanding how to translate your legal knowledge into content that satisfies the questions potential clients are actually typing into search bars.

The challenge is implementing these SEO best practices without compromising the delicate balance you’ve already struck between technical accuracy and accessibility. This is why generic content writers often struggle with legal topics—they lack the specialized knowledge to navigate all three dimensions successfully.

Choose Topics That Actually Matter

When I look at most law firm blogs, I see the same recycled topics over and over. “What to do after a car accident” has been written a gazillion times (that’s the exact count, by the way).Yes, it’s relevant—but it’s also completely saturated.

Instead, I recommend looking for blog topics through three different lenses:

First, what are your clients actually asking you? Not what you think they should be asking, but what are the questions that come up again and again in initial consultations? These questions reveal information gaps that your potential clients are actively trying to fill.

Second, where does your expertise truly shine? Maybe you’ve developed a reputation for handling unusual custody situations, or perhaps you’ve found an innovative approach to helping clients with underwater mortgages. These differentiators make for compelling content because they highlight what makes your firm unique.

Third, what searches have reasonable competition levels? Sometimes the most obvious topics are dominated by giant legal directories and mega-firms with massive marketing budgets. Look for more specific, long-tail topics where you have a realistic chance of visibility.

A personal favorite strategy of mine is to combine local knowledge with legal expertise. A post about “How Recent Changes to County Family Court Scheduling Affect Your Divorce Timeline” might not have massive search volume, but the people who do find it will be exactly the right potential clients in exactly the right location.

Writing That Sounds Like a Human, Not a Statute

Let’s talk about the actual writing process, which is where so many law firms get tripped up. Legal training literally rewires your brain to write in ways that, while precise, can be utterly impenetrable to regular humans. 

We once worked with a tax attorney whose first drafts read like they were written for the Supreme Court rather than someone Googling “do I have to pay taxes on my side hustle?” We had to develop a whole system where he’d write the technically perfect version, and then we’d translate it into what I called “concerned human” language.

Here’s our approach: Imagine explaining the concept to your smart friend who works in a completely different field. They’re intelligent but don’t have your specialized knowledge. What examples would make it click for them? What analogies would bridge the gap between their existing knowledge and this new concept?

This doesn’t mean dumbing things down—it means translating expertise into accessibility. It’s the difference between saying “the statute of limitations creates a time-barred affirmative defense” and “you have a limited window of time to file your case, and waiting too long can result in losing your right to compensation entirely.”

Stories work wonders here too. The human brain is wired for narrative. When you frame legal concepts within stories (even anonymized or hypothetical ones), you create mental hooks that help readers grasp and retain information. Instead of explaining premises liability in the abstract, tell the story of a client who slipped on an unmarked wet floor at a restaurant and the factors that determined liability in that case.

Yes, Accuracy Still Matters (A Lot)

While we’re making legal content more engaging and accessible, we absolutely cannot sacrifice accuracy. This is non-negotiable, and it’s another reason why legal content is uniquely challenging. Not only do you have an ethical duty to provide accurate legal information, but Google will penalize your site if it determines that it is untrustworthy.

The law changes, varies by jurisdiction, and is filled with exceptions and nuance. What’s true for a Minnesota family law case might be completely different in Florida. What was accurate last year might be outdated after a new Supreme Court decision.

This means legal content requires a different level of ongoing maintenance than most other industries. It also means that whoever writes your content needs a solid understanding of legal concepts and the ability to research effectively—or at least a strong quality control process involving attorney review.

I’m a big fan of using softening language when appropriate: “In many states,” “typically,” “generally,” or “in most cases” can help you provide useful information while acknowledging that exceptions exist. Just don’t overdo it to the point where your content becomes so vague it’s useless.

SEO Still Matters (Just Not How You Might Think)

SEO can feel like this mysterious force controlled by the whims of Google’s algorithm changes. But for legal content, the fundamental principles remain remarkably stable: create genuinely useful content that answers the questions your potential clients are asking.

The technical aspects matter, sure. You’ll want your content properly structured with appropriate headings, meta descriptions, and internal linking. You’ll want to be mindful of keywords without stuffing them awkwardly into every paragraph.

But the most important SEO factor for law firms is demonstrating experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (what Google calls E-E-A-T). This means accuracy matters for SEO as well as ethics. It means citing sources when appropriate. It means updating older content rather than letting it languish with outdated information.

Local relevance is particularly crucial for law firms. Most legal issues have geographic constraints, so your content should reflect your practice area both in jurisdiction and in local detail. Generic content that could apply anywhere will almost always underperform compared to content with specific local relevance.

The Art of the Non-Sleazy Call to Action

Few things are cringier than seeing an insightful, helpful legal article end with “CALL NOW FOR YOUR FREE CONSULTATION!!!” complete with multiple exclamation points and urgent all-caps desperation.

A sleazy lawyer with content for a law firm behind him

Your potential clients are often facing some of the most stressful situations of their lives—divorce, injury, criminal charges, bankruptcy. They’re looking for a trusted advisor, not a late-night infomercial.

The most effective calls to action in legal content acknowledge the reader’s situation and offer a clear next step that demonstrates value. “Navigating a custody dispute can feel overwhelming. Our family law team has guided hundreds of parents through this process, and we’re happy to help you understand your options in a confidential consultation.”

Give them multiple ways to reach out based on their preference—phone, email, contact form—and set appropriate expectations about what happens next. Will an attorney call them back within 24 hours? Will they speak with an intake specialist first? Transparency builds trust from the very first interaction.

How to Write Content for a Law Firm: Why Specialized Legal Content Creation Matters

After years in this industry, we’ve seen the same pattern repeatedly: law firms try to save money by assigning their content creation to a general marketing agency, a paralegal with “good writing skills,” or an overseas content mill. Six months later, they’re frustrated with the lack of results and questioning whether content marketing works at all for legal services.

The truth is that effective legal content sits at the intersection of legal knowledge, strategic marketing, and exceptional writing. It’s a specialized skill set that’s difficult to find in one person and requires real investment to do well.

But when done right, the ROI on quality legal content is remarkable. I’ve seen firms completely transform their practice through a strategic content approach—attracting better-qualified leads, spending less on advertising, and building authority that leads to media mentions and referral relationships.

Whether you’re just starting to build your firm’s content strategy or looking to improve what you already have, understanding these principles can help you create legal content that genuinely connects with potential clients while supporting your broader business goals.

And if you ever feel overwhelmed by the process? That’s what specialized legal content creators like us at Lexicon Legal Content are here for. We live and breathe this stuff so you can focus on what you do best—practicing law and serving your clients. Contact us today to learn more.

Why Create and Give Away a Law Firm E-Book?

Posted on by David B. Arato

An e-book is a digital publication, like an in-depth report, that provides comprehensive information, usually in PDF format. E-books for lawyers are all the brilliance of content marketing in its purest form. Content marketing is an effective technique because it offers something of value, no strings attached, to your target audience in an effort to grow trust and demonstrate your expertise. If you can see the value in offering free, informative articles on your law firm’s website, then the appeal of offering a full law firm e-book is merely an extension of that. 

This powerful tool can be used by law firms to educate potential clients, establish themselves as industry leaders, and even streamline certain client processes. By offering more extensive and thorough guidance through a practical e-book, you can engage with your ideal clients on a deeper level and demonstrate your firm’s commitment to service. If you want to leverage the power of law firm e-book marketing, Lexicon Legal Content can help.

A law firm e-book on a bookshelf

What Is an E-Book? 

Before diving into the benefits of using an e-book in your law firm marketing, let’s start with the basics. The kind of e-book your law firm would ideally create isn’t anything that would have to be viewed on a Kindle or require any special software or app. Readers can quickly download them and read them on a tablet, laptop, or smartphone. Today, most e-books are attractively formatted to read in columns like a magazine and feature catchy images, graphs, charts, full color, and embedded videos rather than boring black and white documents.  

What’s the Point of Offering a Freebie Legal E-book?

Offering a giveaway e-book on your law firm’s website is what’s called a “lead magnet.” Website visitors will provide you with their name and email address in exchange for getting access to the e-book. All of this is automated and easy for your web designer to install. Providing a free e-book allows you to convert readers into leads, grow your email list and social media following, and promote your brand.

Creating a Proper Law Firm E-book Sales Funnel

To get the most out of your e-book, you’ll need to gently guide your website visitor to take the desired action (i.e., downloading the e-book), which is known as getting them into your “sales funnel.” A sales funnel is like the dating process: start slow and build. You don’t want to ask them to marry you on the first date or never ask them out—build trust and then go for it. Here’s how a law firm can set up a solid e-book sales funnel:

  • Introduce the e-book: Mention the title and give a brief description.
  • Highlight benefits: Why should someone visiting your law firm’s website download this e-book?
  • Create Urgency or Discuss Pain Points: Depending on what kind of law you practice and the subject of your e-book, you might explain how time is of the essence and encourage the reader to get your e-book right away. On the other hand, it might be more appropriate to show how your e-book addresses particular pain points you know your clients typically have.
  • Provide a call-to-action: Tell the website visitor what to do, like, “Download this e-book now” or “Get started today.” Be specific and include a time frame like “now” or “today.” Here is where you want to put the contact form for viewers to provide their names and email addresses.
  • Sprinkle e-book download forms throughout the site: If your main e-book sales funnel is on your homepage, still put little reminders in your blog sidebar, site footer, and so on gently reminding visitors about the e-book.
  • Measure and optimize: Monitor the performance of your e-book by tracking metrics like conversion rates, email open rates, and click-throughs. Use this data to make any necessary tweaks.

At Lexicon Legal Content, we can not only create your law firm’s e-book but also audit an existing sales funnel or create one for you.

Law Firm E-book Topic Ideas

For your law firm e-book marketing to be most effective, whatever you offer really needs to be your magnum opus, so to speak. Not only do you need an attention-grabbing headline like “7 Things Texas Divorce Lawyers Won’t Tell You,” but you need the content to be thorough and complete. To get inspired, here are a few thoughts:

  • What is one of the most common conversations you repeat over and over again with new clients? Not only can you bring in new leads, but you can give the e-book to existing clients.
  • What is your particular niche or specialty in your sector of the law? For example, a personal injury lawyer might have an extensive background with dog bite cases and create an e-book dedicated to that specifically rather than personal injury in general.
  • Were you ever involved in a high-profile case? Discuss the legal aspects from your “insider perspective.”
  • What do your clients need that isn’t currently available to them? Dig deep. What is being overlooked?
  • What questions does one of your new clients not even realize they should be asking?

The more you can include detailed information about the local nitty gritty, the better. Divorce or bankruptcy lawyers might include, for instance, detailed instructions and a map of where to find free parking near the courthouse, warn people about wearing shorts, and recommend clients use the side entrance for less waiting at security.

Create an Email Follow-Up Series

Someone downloading your law firm’s e-book is the beginning of the journey, not the end. Set up an automated email sequence to check in with, share insights with, and, in a non-aggressive way, nurture the relationship of those who download your e-book. Your follow-up emails should be short, gentle, and of value. Include your contact information, but remember that being too sales-y can turn people off.

How to Get a Law Firm E-Book Made

Lexicon Legal Content can curate a detailed and thorough e-book with your input. Our talented team of writers has extensive experience creating content in all practice areas, and our graphic design team can turn their words into an attractive, modern e-book that will get downloaded and convert readers to clients. We consider not only the target clientele you are looking to attract but also make sure your e-book will stand out in a crowded marketplace. E-book marketing is under-utilized in the legal industry, and, in many markets, you could easily be the first attorney to offer one.

Get Started with Law Firm E-Book Marketing Now!

Lexicon Legal Content understands content marketing and leveraging e-books as lead magnets inside-out. Let us get your law firm ahead of the competition with this tried-and-true strategy, which, unlike blogging, is a one-time investment. Let’s start brainstorming topics! To get started, contact our friendly staff now.

Legal Content Strategy Tips: Creating Compelling Content that Maintains Professional Standards

Posted on by David B. Arato

The challenge of creating legal content sits at a critical intersection: engaging potential clients while upholding the highest professional standards. As law firms increasingly recognize the importance of digital presence, many find themselves caught between these competing demands. The result often manifests as content that either reads like a legal brief, alienating potential clients, or oversimplifies complex legal concepts in a way that undermines the firm’s expertise.

What Issues Do Law Firms Face in Content Marketing?

Most growing  law firms understand the necessity of maintaining an active online presence. Yet the reality of content creation poses significant challenges for practicing attorneys. Some of these challenges include:

  • Time constraints make regular publishing difficult
  • Concerns about accuracy and compliance
  • Staying on top of current SEO best practices
  • Creating content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authority, and trust (E-E-A-T)

The pressure to maintain SEO visibility while adhering to professional standards creates a burden that often results in inconsistent publishing schedules or compromised quality.

Consistently Create Excellent Content

Professional excellence in law firm content requires more than just legal  accuracy. While precise legal information forms the foundation of any piece, effective content must bridge the gap between legal expertise and client needs and understanding. This means developing content that demonstrates deep knowledge while remaining accessible to potential clients who may be encountering complicated legal concepts for the first time.

Consider the typical client’s journey: They rarely begin with sophisticated legal questions. Instead, they search for answers to pressing personal or business problems that happen to have legal implications. Effective content meets them at this point of need, gradually introducing legal concepts within the context of their situation.

The Art of Accessible Legal Writing

Creating accessible legal content doesn’t mean oversimplifying complex concepts. Rather, it requires a careful approach that layers information effectively. The best legal content begins with the client’s perspective, acknowledges their concerns, and then guides them through increasingly sophisticated understanding of their legal situation.

This approach appears in content that weaves together practical insights with legal expertise. For instance, a piece about business formation might begin with common entrepreneurial concerns before exploring how different legal structures address these issues. By anchoring legal concepts in real-world applications, the content becomes both more engaging and more valuable to readers.

Strategic Content Development

A comprehensive legal content strategy needs to address multiple objectives simultaneously. The foundation begins with core practice area pages that establish expertise and authority. These pages should offer deep insights into your firm’s approach while anticipating and addressing client questions and concerns. 

Building on this foundation, develop interconnected blog content that creates natural topic clusters around your main practice areas. This approach serves both SEO purposes and user experience by providing multiple entry points for potential clients while establishing deep expertise in specific areas of law.

To AI or Not AI: The Evolution of Legal Content Creation

The emergence of AI tools has introduced new possibilities in legal content creation, but also new considerations. While AI can enhance research and content development processes, it requires careful implementation to maintain professional standards. The trick is understanding how to leverage these tools while ensuring human expertise guides the final output.

Professional legal writers who understand both content creation and legal requirements can effectively navigate this landscape, using AI to enhance rather than replace human expertise. This balanced approach allows firms to maintain consistent, high-quality content production while ensuring every piece meets professional standards.

Implementing Professional Content Standards

Creating effective legal content requires a systematic approach that begins with careful planning. 

Each piece should align with firm objectives while meeting strict quality standards. This means establishing clear guidelines for style, tone, and compliance, along with implementing robust review processes that ensure accuracy without creating bottlenecks in publication.

The most successful content strategies incorporate regular performance review and optimization. This means tracking not just basic metrics like page views and time on site, but understanding how content contributes to client acquisition and firm growth. This data should inform ongoing content development, creating a cycle of continuous improvement.

Contact Us for Professional Legal Content Creation

Law firms increasingly recognize that effective content creation requires specialized expertise. Just as clients seek legal counsel for their specific needs, firms benefit from partnering with content specialists who understand both legal writing and digital content strategy. This approach ensures consistent, high-quality content that serves both marketing objectives and professional standards.

Professional legal content writers bring more than just writing skills to the table. We offer a deep understanding of how to create content that resonates with potential clients while maintaining the professional standards that law firms require. This expertise allows firms to focus on their practice while maintaining a strong and effective online presence.

Looking to elevate your firm’s content strategy? Let’s discuss how our team of specialized legal content writers can help create engaging, compliant content that drives results while upholding your firm’s professional standards. Contact our Lexicon Legal Content today.

How Targeting Long-Tail Keywords Can Help Smaller Law Firms Get More Clients

Posted on by David B. Arato

Trying to compete for cases as a small or mid-size law firm can feel like David fighting Goliath. The largest law firms in any given market seem to have endless marketing budgets. You’ll see them everywhere – on TV, on billboards, and (most relevant to this article) at the top of the search results for highly competitive search terms. On the other hand, smaller firms often struggle to get noticed despite their skill and ability.


Fortunately, there is a way for solos and mid-size firms to compete: targeting long-tail keywords in their content marketing. What is a long-tail keyword phrase, you ask? They are longer keyword phrases that are much more specific to what a consumer is looking for and are much more likely to convert into clients. 

Competing for Vanity Search Terms is Time-Consuming and Expensive

Vanity search terms are those terms that have a high monthly search volume – but typically a low conversion rate. In the legal field, these search terms typically follow this format: [City] + [Practice Area] + [Lawyer/Attorney]. Some specific examples of vanity search terms include:

  • Denver Car Accident Lawyer
  • Chicago Divorce Attorney
  • Los Angeles Bankruptcy Lawyer
  • Miami Truck Lawyer

Ranking for these search terms is extremely different, especially in competitive markets like major cities. The firms doing it are likely spending tens of thousands of dollars a month on marketing, including content creation, obtaining backlinks, and technical SEO. As a result, it may not be worth it for smaller firms to even try to rank for these terms. 

Long-Tail Keywords are Usually High-Intent Searches

While it’s certainly nice to show up at the top of the results for terms like this, the fact is that these terms often generate low-value traffic (more on that later). The fact is that people who are searching for “car accident lawyer” are likely much further from making a hiring decision than say, a person searching for “what to look for in a car accident lawyer” or “how to find a car accident lawyer near me.” 

Long-Tail Search Terms are Much Less Competitive

The good news for law firms with smaller marketing budgets is that long-tail keywords are much less competitive, meaning they are easier to rank for. While large firms may be able to dominate the top of the search results for high-volume search terms, they often overlook opportunities involving long-tail terms, giving smaller firms an opportunity to outrank larger competitors.

For example, terms like “how to find the best personal injury lawyer near me” or “what to look for when hiring a divorce attorney in Chicago” have far fewer competitors vying for that prime real estate on the first page of Google. These are the types of queries that signal a user is seriously considering hiring legal counsel and is further along in the decision-making process.

How to Target Long-Tail Keywords with Content Marketing

Now that we’ve established how focusing on long-tail keywords can help smaller law firms compete, the next step is putting that strategy into action through content marketing. 

Keyword Research

The foundation of any successful long-tail keyword strategy is in-depth keyword research. Look beyond the high-volume, competitive terms and uncover the specific phrases your potential clients are searching for. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can help you identify relevant long-tail opportunities based on search volume, competition, and relevance.

Create Informative, Specific Content

Once you’ve identified the most promising long-tail keywords, create content that thoroughly addresses those topics. This could include:

The key is to provide genuinely helpful information that answers the user’s query in detail. Avoid thin, keyword-stuffed content – focus on quality over quantity.

Optimize for Search Engines

Proper on-page SEO is critical for ranking well for long-tail terms. Ensure your content features the target keyword prominently in the title, headers, URL, and throughout the body. Use related keywords and LSI terms to reinforce topical relevance. Schema markup, alt text, and other technical optimizations can also boost your visibility.

Build Authority and Links

Search engines also reward websites that demonstrate expertise, authority, and trustworthiness on a given topic. Promote your long-tail content through social media, outreach for backlinks, and guest posting opportunities. Over time, this will help your pages rank higher and reach more of your ideal clients.

Track, Test, and Iterate

Continuously monitor the performance of your long-tail content and make refinements based on the data. Which topics resonate most with your audience? Where are there opportunities to create additional content around related queries? Stay agile and responsive to keep improving your results.

Need Help with Your Law Firm Content Marketing? Call Us Today

Establishing an actionable content strategy and regularly creating well-performing law firm content requires a significant amount of time and expertise. At Lexicon Legal Content, our skilled team creates accurate, compliant, and optimized content for law firms throughout North America.  To learn more about how we can help you get more clients through law firm content marketing, contact us today!

How to Find the Best Legal Content Provider for Your Law Firm

Posted on by David B. Arato
Table of Contents

If you are a lawyer or handle marketing for a law firm, you should seriously consider working with an experienced legal content provider. Content marketing is an efficient and cost-effective way for law firms to reach new clients and the benefits are well-documented.  For example, companies with blogs get 67 percent more leads than companies that don’t. Some of the specific benefits of regularly creating content include:

  • Attracting backlinks
  • Increasing brand awareness
  • Establishing your firm as a leader in your practice area
  • Blogging allows you to targeting long-tail keywords
  • More content means more opportunities to rank well in the SERPs

As a busy practicing attorney who wants to get more clients, you may have every intention of creating content but have trouble finding the time or motivation to get it done. What’s more, just writing content isn’t enough – to get your content to the top of the search results, you need to learn best practices when it comes to things like content optimization and on-site SEO.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of law firm marketing agencies that can help you with content creation. That said, in a “your money or your life” area like law, it’s vital for your content to be accurate and in compliance with the advertising rules in your state. Additionally, in order to rank well, your content needs to demonstrate experience, expertise, authority, and trust (E-E-A-T) in a way that aligns with Google’s guidance. 


With this in mind, you should look for an agency that understands how to optimize content to show up in the SERPs in 2024 AND with writers who know the law. But how do you find a unicorn like this? Well, if you are reading this, you already have…but here’s some advice in case you want to continue your search.

Look for Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

When you are looking for a person or company to handle your law firm’s content, you need to find someone with expertise in three distinct areas:

  • The law
  • Optimizing content for search
  • Writing engaging content

Finding all three of these attributes in a content provider can be challenging. The expertise in the law is relatively easy – it’s not difficult to determine whether someone has JD or Esq. behind their name.

Read Reviews Before Choosing a Legal Content Provider

One of the best ways to determine the quality of a legal content provider is by reading reviews and case studies from their past clients. Look for testimonials from law firms similar to yours in size and practice area. Pay attention to specific results mentioned, such as increased website traffic, higher search engine rankings, or growth in client inquiries.

Creating law firm content involves significant, challenges, particularly regarding ethics and compliance with state bar advertising rules. Your content provider should demonstrate a thorough understanding of:

  • The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct
  • State-specific regulations on attorney advertising
  • Best practices for disclaimers and avoiding the unauthorized practice of law
  • Ethical considerations in discussing case outcomes or client testimonials

When evaluating a legal content provider, ask about their process for ensuring compliance and how they stay updated on changes in legal advertising regulations. A reputable agency should be able to provide clear guidelines on how they navigate these issues.

Assess the Legal Content Provider’s SEO Expertise

While legal knowledge is crucial, your content provider must also be well-versed in current SEO best practices. 

In 2024, this goes beyond simply stuffing keywords into articles. Look for an agency that understands the importance of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) in legal content, how to optimize for featured snippets and other SERP features, the role of user intent in search rankings, technical SEO factors that impact content performance, and strategies for local SEO, which is particularly important for law firms. Ask for examples of how they’ve helped law firms improve their search visibility and what metrics they use to measure success.

Evaluate Their Content Creation Process

A high-quality legal content provider should have a robust process for creating accurate, engaging, and optimized content. Their approach should encompass several elements. First, they should employ thorough research methods using reliable legal sources. It’s crucial to understand how they ensure factual accuracy and legal correctness in their content. The provider’s revision and editing process is also a critical component, as it helps refine and polish the final product. For example, at Lexicon, we offer unlimited revisions to ensure our clients’ satisfaction with the final product.

You should inquire about any content provider’s  use of AI tools in content creation, and if utilized, how they maintain quality and originality. Lastly, their approach to creating various types of content, such as blog posts, practice area pages, and FAQs, should be tailored to each format’s requirements while maintaining consistency in quality and accuracy. 

Look for a Provider Offering Customized Solutions

Every law firm has unique needs and goals. Avoid content providers who offer one-size-fits-all packages. Instead, look for an agency willing to create a customized content strategy tailored to your firm’s specific:

  • Practice areas and target clientele
  • Geographic focus (local, regional, or national)
  • Marketing goals and budget
  • Existing online presence and areas for improvement

A good content provider should take the time to understand your firm’s unique value proposition and incorporate it into your content strategy.

Looking for a Legal Content Provider? Contact Lexicon Legal Content Today!

 While exploring your options is valuable, if you’re reading this, you’ve already found a content provider that checks all the boxes. Lexicon Legal Content combines deep legal expertise with cutting-edge SEO knowledge and engaging writing skills.

Our team of experienced attorneys and SEO specialists understands the unique challenges of marketing a law firm online. We create customized content strategies designed to boost your firm’s visibility, establish your authority, and attract more qualified leads.

Don’t let your valuable time be consumed by content creation when you could be focusing on practicing law. Contact Lexicon Legal Content today to discuss how we can elevate your firm’s online presence and help you reach more potential clients. Let us handle the content while you handle the cases.

Google Update Impacts Legal Content Marketing

Posted on by David B. Arato

Google recently updated its Search Quality Rater Guidelines, which will likely impact your law firm’s content marketing strategies. These guidelines help raters assess page quality. The focus is now on E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness). Your law firm’s website must demonstrate these qualities in its content.

In 2024, Google added “experience” to E-A-T, reacting to AI-generated content like ChatGPT. For legal content and SEO, staying updated and collaborating with an SEO-savvy legal content provider who understands E-A-T and YMYL is crucial. Working with professionals pays off.

Google Update Impacts

The Shift in Direction

Google has shifted focus from YMYL topics like News, current events, Civics, government, and Law to assessing specific content categories for potential harm. According to the quality rater guidelines, content gets labeled YMYL when it poses a high risk of causing damage to readers or others affected. Pages are classified as YMYL if they could significantly impact health, safety, or financial stability due to dangerous topics or unreliable information. Law firm websites must have high-quality content to avoid search engine penalties, as well-written YMYL pages have better chances of ranking well.

EAT, YMYL, and Lawyers

When it comes to legal content, it’s not a stretch to say that inaccurate information can prove harmful to readers and society at large, which makes focusing your efforts on Google’s updated guidelines paramount for law firms and other companies in the legal services space. To begin, the information you share can be actionable, which means it has the potential to guide readers’ behaviors and, thus, has the ability to do harm or cause significant impact – if the content is not carefully considered, accurate, and clearly written.  

Google advises that – even when minor inaccuracies could lead to harm – YMYL is likely applicable. Further, if the topic isn’t one that most people would be comfortable seeking guidance from friends or family, it’s more likely to fall into the YMYL categories. Legal content very likely checks both of these boxes. Finally, the more closely your content identifies with YMYL, which is gauged on a spectrum, the more important E-A-T becomes. 

A High-Quality Focus on E-A-T

Google considers a variety of factors when it determines the quality of the content of a page:

  • The topic and purpose of the page guide the necessary level of E-A-T, amount and quality of main content (MC), and level of information about the MC’s creators. When it comes to YMYL topics, a higher standard for all three is required. 
  • Some factors that can make a page low quality – regardless of its purpose or topic – include having a mixed or mildly negative reputation regarding the website or the content creator or having a shocking or otherwise exaggerated title. 
  • Any type of website can have pages that are identified as low quality, including government and academic websites, and low-quality pages can be about virtually any topic. 

The pages on YMYL topics require more careful scrutiny in terms of factors that are indicative of low quality, and it’s important to note that even one low-quality attribute can push an entire page into a low-quality rating.

The Topic and the Purpose of the Page

The necessary level of E-A-T, as defined by Google, is driven by the page’s topic and purpose. Whatever kind of law you practice, your pages are almost certainly intended to inform readers about important legal matters that could lead to significant actions and profound effects. As such, the very topics of your pages – because the information has the potential to cause harm – are likely to place them squarely in the exacting sights of quality raters, who are required to evaluate the topic when determining page quality. 

A Lack of E-A-T

Google has tweaked its definition of what it means when a page lacks the necessary E-A-T to bypass a low-quality finding by adding a bullet point that states the following – Informational [main content] on YMYL topics is mildly inaccurate or misleading.

Other common examples of pages that are ranked as low quality due to a lack of necessary E-A-T include:

  • The MC’s creator doesn’t have the necessary expertise in the topic at hand
  • The site – although it may be authoritative – is not an authoritative source for the topic at hand (a legal website that offers medical advice, for example). 
  • The MC itself does not inspire trust.

While some pages need no formal expertise to write, it’s critical for the purposes of YMYL topics, which makes it critical for your law firm’s website content. The idea is to highlight the level of legal experience, insight, and skill you have achieved and to ensure that this colors your content. If a page you publish lacks the E-A-T necessary to support its purpose, which is to inform readers on a topic that has the potential to have a significant impact, other factors, such as reputation, cannot save the page from a low rating.  

Do No Harm

Google’s quality raters are trained to recognize that even the most authoritative and generally helpful websites can include pages with harmful MC that are deserving of the lowest ratings. As such, they are called to carefully evaluate each page in terms of its own merits and challenges. Before moving on to any other page quality characteristics, quality raters are required to first check for the following:

  • Untrustworthiness
  • Deception
  • Spam
  • Harmfulness

In its quest to update and upgrade search quality ratings, Google also put out a clear overview of the process involved in the search quality evaluator guidelines. As a provider of legal information, providing informative, well-constructed, compelling YMYL pages is key, which makes focusing on the expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of the legal content at hand instrumental to offering readers the information they are looking for while remaining in Google’s good graces.

FAQs

What is E-A-T, and why is it essential for legal content?

E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Google uses these factors to judge the quality and reliability of information. It’s important because it can impact readers’ lives, finances, or safety.

How can a law firm demonstrate expertise in its content?

Law firms demonstrate expertise by providing detailed legal knowledge, case studies, and practical legal advice highlighting their attorneys’ qualifications and experience.

What gives legal content authority?

Legal content gains authority through credentials like memberships in legal associations, awards, recognitions, and years of experience. This assures readers that the information comes from a credible source.

How can trust in legal content be maintained?

Trust in legal content is maintained by ensuring accuracy, transparency, and reliability. Avoid sensationalized or misleading information, clearly cite sources, and present balanced and factual information.

Why is YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) important in legal content?

YMYL topics, including legal matters, can significantly impact a person’s finances, health, or safety. To protect users, Google requires such content to be accurate, trustworthy, and high-quality.

What pitfalls should be avoided in legal content marketing?

Avoid providing inaccurate or outdated information, lacking precise citations or sources, using overly promotional language, and neglecting to update content regularly to meet current standards.

Final Word

Law firms must create high-quality legal content that adheres to Google’s E-A-T guidelines. Focusing on expertise, authority, and trustworthiness can enhance their online visibility and establish them as dependable sources of legal information.

How Creating Content Can Help Law Firms Connect with Clients 

Posted on by David B. Arato
Table of Contents

If you’ve researched how to market a law firm (or any business, for that matter) online, you have undoubtedly come across advice telling you to create and post more content. When I first got into this business more than a decade ago and was told that a website “needed content,” I assumed they meant images and other visual elements. I guess it had never occurred to me that someone was actually writing all of the words on the site and that those words had a significant impact on how well the site performed in searches for particular queries. 

Generally, content refers to any media that conveys information, whether it’s written text, video, or audio. The internet has an insatiable appetite for it, and creating good content has the power to connect your legal practice with new clients and provide a substantial ROI. 

The Right Content Can Improve Your Rankings in the SERPs 

From a technical standpoint, content has the ability to get your firm in front of new clients by improving how well your website ranks in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Studies show that websites with more content tend to rank better, and the more pages and blogs you have, the wider you can cast your net for potential internet queries.  

For example, it’s all well and good to have a “Motor Vehicle Accidents” page on your website, but if you drill down into car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrians accidents, etc., you have a better chance of appearing in searches made by injured clients. 

Your Content Should Demonstrate E-E-A-T 

While Google doesn’t make its search algorithm public, it is clear about what it wants from content. In order for content to rank well on the search engine, it needs to demonstrate experience, expertise, authority, and trust (E-E-A-T). This is especially true for pages that could have an impact on a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety – commonly referred to as Your Money or Your Life pages (YMYL).  

How can your law firm content pages demonstrate E-E-A-T? 

  • Make sure readers can verify the information on your site. For example, if you discuss a statutory legal provision, link to an official .gov source. 
  • Create a robust About Us page that highlights the attorneys in your firm. Include information about where they went to law school, community involvement, notable case results (if permitted by your state bar), publications, and other biographical information. 
  • Make sure your content provides value to the reader. 
  • Create content for people first, not search engines. That said, be sure to follow SEO best practices regarding website content. 

It’s Important to Keep Your Content Fresh 

Importantly, you can’t just create a piece of content that initially shoots to the top of the SERPs and just rest on your proverbial laurels. Content “freshness” is a confirmed ranking factor, and I’ve personally seen our own pieces of content go straight to the top of the rankings for high-volume queries and drop over time as other pieces outrank it.  

It’s important to regularly produce high-quality content of interest to your potential clients in order to maintain your SEO rankings. In addition, repetition of your message is key. That isn’t to say you should post the same content over and over again – in fact, Google will ignore it if you do. It’s also not about saying the same thing in hundreds of different ways. It’s about repeating the message – specifically, that you can help people with certain types of legal problems – within the context of providing useful information. 

For example, if you are a DUI defense lawyer, you might want to produce blog content titled: 

  • Do I Need a Lawyer for My First DUI? 
  • What are the Penalties for a First DUI? 
  • Is a First-TIme DUI Serious? What are the Defenses to a First-TIme DUI? 
  • How Long Should I Wait to Call a Lawyer after a DUI Arrest? 
  • How Can a DUI Lawyer Help Me? 
  • DUI FAQs 

This list could go on and on. While all of this content should be unique, it should also ultimately focus on why the reader needs legal counsel and how a lawyer can help. The more content you create, the wider the net you are casting to connect with your potential clients. 

Content Can Establish Your Firm as a Thought Leader 

While improving your site’s positioning in the results is certainly a worthwhile goal in and of itself, regularly creating content can also establish your firm as a thought leader in your practice areas. By positioning your website as a go-to source for information, you can increase your firm’s standing in your community and develop a reputation as a subject matter expert. 

Doing so can lead to other forms of exposure, as well. An owner of a well-regarded PI marketing agency recently quipped to me that “talking about yourself is great, but having other people talk about you is better.” 

When you create lots of content about things you know about, you increase the chances that you are going to be quoted in publications, asked to do an interview for your local news, invited on a podcast, or asked to speak at an event. In other words, content can turn into exposure, which in turn can lead to tons of new business and opportunities. 

Put Your Content Out There 

Relatedly, you should explore multiple channels in your content marketing efforts. Posting on your own site is great for your SEO and builds authority, but look for other places to publish things that you create. For example, I regularly publish in Attorney at Work and Attorney at Law Magazine and am always looking for new places where our potential clients may be lurking online to publish. 

As a B2B business, we focus on publications that are read by legal professionals. For a law firm that works with individuals, you may consider publishing content on other law firms’ websites, local newspapers, news websites, or websites of interest to your target clientele.  

Not only does publishing content on other sites increase its reach, but it also results in more backlinks, which can significantly improve your site’s SEO. You can think of backlinks as “votes of confidence” for your website, and the more you have, the more relevant your site is in the eyes of Google. 

Creating Great Content Takes Time and Effort 

It’s clear that a modern law firm needs to engage in regular content creation in order to stay competitive in the digital marketing space. Unfortunately, creating content takes a significant amount of time. And it’s not just the actual writing that takes time. In order to regularly create content that ranks, you need to:

  • Engage in keyword research 
  • Come up with content topics 
  • Optimize your content for SEO 
  • Post your content and engage in on-site optimization best practices 
  • Promote your content on social media and other channels 

As a busy practicing lawyer, there is a good chance that you simply don’t have the time to either learn how to be a content marketer or create the content itself. Fortunately, the attorney-led team at Lexicon Legal Content is available to help. We create optimized blogs, practice area pages, FAQs, e-books, video scripts, and other forms of content designed to improve your website’s rankings in the SERPs and get your potential clients to pick up the phone. Contact us today to learn more.

Should AI-Generated Content Be Watermarked?

Posted on by David B. Arato

Since November of 2022, the world has been captivated by ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot created by OpenAI. ChatGPT’s meteoric rise in popularity  – reaching 100 million users in just two months – has brought attention to generative AI in general. As you would expect, generative AI is capable of creating text, images, and other forms of content in seconds that some consider indistinguishable from what a human would create.

Unsurprisingly, generative AI has been hailed as both a productivity enhancer and a job destroyer, sometimes simultaneously. It has raised serious issues in academia, with some people suggesting that the college essay has become obsolete. In addition, AI’s generative capabilities may fundamentally change the way white collar professionals work and may even threaten their jobs.

Should Readers Know Whether Content is AI-Generated?

One issue that appears to surface regularly in the conversations around AI is whether people should know whether content was created by a human or AI. Knowing the provenance of content seems like a fair request, especially if an individual is relying on the information for a serious matter such as their health, financial well-being, or safety. 

One solution that has been thrown around is the idea of watermarking AI content, allowing people and search engines to recognize it as such. In fact, at Google I/O , the company said that it would voluntarily watermark images created by its generative AI so that people could spot fakes. Microsoft made a similar announcement a few weeks later.

Inaccurate and Fake Content Can Have Real World Effects

It is becoming more and more clear that misleading content generated by AI can have real world effects – and cause real word harm. For example, on May 22 of this year, a false report of an explosion at the Pentagon accompanied by an image likely generated by AI caused a significant dip in the stock market. 

Similarly, many experts consider content containing misinformation to pose a risk to elections. Speaking at a World Economic Forum event earlier this year, Microsoft’s chief economist, Micahel Schwartz cautioned that “Before AI could take all your jobs, it could certainly do a lot of damage in the hands of spammers, people who want to manipulate elections.” 

Bad actors could generate misinformation at a scale never seen before in the form of social media posts, fake news stories, fake images, and even deep fake videos of candidates that are indistinguishable from reality.

Perhaps most troublingly, some observers think that the rise of generative AI risks a future of human incompetence. What does the world look like if all we have to do to demonstrate competence is to ask an AI to do it for us? As put by US DOJ National Security & Cybercrime Coordinator Matt Cronin recently in The Hill:

For even the most brilliant minds, mastering a domain and deeply understanding a topic takes significant time and effort. While ultimately rewarding, this stressful process risks failure and often takes thousands of hours. For the first time in history, an entire generation can skip this process and still progress (at least for a time) in school and work. They can press the magic box and suddenly have work product that rivals the best in their cohort. That is a tempting arrangement, particularly since their peers will likely use AI even if they do not.

Like most Faustian bargains, however, reliance on generative AI comes with a hidden price. Every time you press the box, you are not truly learning — at least not in a way that meaningfully benefits you. You are developing the AI’s neural network, not your own.

Cronin argues that incompetence will increase over time as we use AI, comparing using it to having someone else work out for you and expecting to get fit as a result.

Consider a hypothetical generation of surgeons who have been raised on AI and suddenly do not have internet access – do you want them operating on you? Do you want a lawyer who got through law school learning how to correctly “prompt” AI representing you in court? Of course, for most of us, the answer is “no.”

The fact is that generative AI allows people to seemingly demonstrate knowledge or expertise they do not have. While this clearly presents an issue in academia, where students are expected to demonstrate knowledge in writing assignments, it also raises an issue as to whether consumers can trust that knowledge-based professionals like lawyers, physicians, and mental health providers actually possess the skills they claim to have in their website content. 

What Does Watermarking AI-Generated Content Look Like?

You are probably already familiar with the idea of watermarking as it relates to visual content. For an example, go to iStock and see how they display the pictures they have for sale. In order to prevent you from simply right-clicking and saving the image to your desktop, each image has “iStock by Getty Images” superimposed on top of it.

Google is taking watermarking AI-generated images a step further and embedding data that will mark them as AI-generated. In a May 10th blog post on The Keyword, Google explained that:

“. . .as we begin to roll out generative image capabilities, we will ensure that every one of our AI-generated images has a markup in the original file to give you context if you come across it outside of our platforms. Creators and publishers will be able to add similar markups, so you’ll be able to see a label in images in Google Search, marking them as AI-generated. You can expect to see these from several publishers including Midjourney, Shutterstock, and others in the coming months.

Watermarking Content Presents Special Challenges

Of course, watermarking AI-generated text would be different from watermarking images. One idea that has been discussed by AI-creators like OpenAI and other stakeholders is the idea of cryptographic watermarking. This type of watermarking involves embedding a pattern or code into the text in a way that allows software to detect whether content is generated by AI.

Hany Farid, a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, recently explained how watermarking text may work in a piece for GCN:

Generated text can be watermarked by secretly tagging a subset of words and then biasing the selection of a word to be a synonymous tagged word. For example, the tagged word “comprehend” can be used instead of “understand.” By periodically biasing word selection in this way, a body of text is watermarked based on a particular distribution of tagged words. This approach won’t work for short tweets but is generally effective with text of 800 or more words depending on the specific watermark details.

This idea has gained traction in many circles. Professor Farid believes that all AI-generated content should be watermarked, as does Matt Cronin (mentioned earlier in this article). Additionally, Fedscoop’s Nihal Krishan reports that Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technology met privately with tech executives  at the RSA Conference – including those from OpenAI and Microsoft – and urged them to consider watermarking any content their AI models generate.

Conclusion

While the future of AI-content watermarking remains unclear, what is clear is that generative AI can pose risks to individuals as well as  society as a whole. Misinformation has been a problem before, but the difference now is the scale and speed with which it can be produced.

One way to handle the issue would be for AI companies to watermark all of the content they create so that everyone has a clear idea of its provenance. This would allow for the use of AI in academia without the fear of an incompetent workforce, the use of AI in journalism without eroding the public trust, and the use of AI in marketing with transparency. 

In light of the risks posed by the proliferation of AI-generated content and the potential erosion of human competence, watermarking provides a practical measure to ensure transparency and accountability. By implementing watermarking practices, content creators and publishers can contribute to a more informed and discerning society, enabling individuals to make better decisions based on the origin and authenticity of the content they encounter.

Generative AI for Law Firm Content? A Quick and Dirty Guide

Posted on by David B. Arato

It’s May of 2023, which means that professionals across all industries are working on determining how they can incorporate AI into their workflows to improve efficiency. Everyone knows the legal field moves more slowly with technology than others, but that doesn’t mean that lawyers and law firms are not trying to figure out how they can use it to do non-practice tasks like create marketing materials.

It’s true that generative AI can create fairly convincing human-sounding content, so law firms and their marketing managers may wonder whether they can use it to churn out content at scale. AI is a great assistant, but it still needs a human at the helm – especially in a high-stakes area like law. 

Below are some guidelines as to how law firms can currently use generative AI models like ChatGPT to help in the marketing efforts.+

Do Not Rely on It to Create a Finished Product By Itself

The first thing that lawyers and law firm marketing directors should realize is that you cannot rely on AI models to create a finished piece of content without human intervention. AI is a very convincing liar, and it is known to “hallucinate” answers that are just flat out wrong. 

It doesn’t take much to recognize that this can be a serious issue when creating legal content. Providing incorrect information could result in bar complaints or even a malpractice suit if someone who became a client used the information on your site for the basis of taking a specific course of action.

Additionally, even if you teach AI your brand voice, the fact is that AI-generated content does not capture the intricacy and personality of human writing. If you really want to make a connection with your readers, make sure there is a human touch to the final product.

Know What AI Does Best

Now that we’ve addressed some of the significant issues with AI content creation, it’s important to address the things that it can do extremely well. There is zero doubt that – when used correctly – AI can improve productivity and make the process of creating law firm marketing content easier. Some of the best use-cases for AI in legal content marketing include:

Topic Ideation

Sometimes, the hardest part of creating content is figuring out what to write about. After all, you can only package “why you need a [insert your practice area] attorney” in so many different ways. The fact is, however, that there is plenty to talk about in the legal field, and many questions that provide you an opportunity to connect with clients online.

Getting ChatGPT to spit out strong blog topics takes a little prompt engineering. For example, you need to narrow its output to consumer-facing matters (have you met a client that really wants to know the difference between assumption of the risk and comparative negligence?) and tell it some other details. 

Fortunately, the legal professionals at Lexicon Legal Content have done the hard part for you and created a legal industry-specific AI-Powered Legal Blog Topic Generator that you can use for free.

Getting Past Writer’s Block

So now you have some topics, but you are still looking at the blank page without any idea where to start. In cases like these, AI can help you get started. You can ask it to provide a basic introduction for your topic, which is often enough to get past writers’ block and put something on the page.

Outlining Your Content

Another place that AI shines is creating content outlines. Sometimes, it is just as simple as asking it to provide headers for an x-number of word article on your chosen topic. In others, you could ask it to get more granular and summarize pontiac ideas to cover in each section.

Read Every Word

When it comes to AI content, it is critical that someone with legal expertise (preferably someone with a JD) reads every single word of the output. A light edit adding some personal or brand flavor here and there is not going to cut it. As mentioned above, it is common knowledge that AI spits out incorrect information, and even a slight error could result in professional and legal consequences. 

In addition, AI may create content that is noncompliant with the advertising rules in your jurisdiction. A stray “specialist” or false statement about your experience could result in marketing materials that could land you in hot water with your state bar.

Run it Through a Plagiarism Checker

To vastly oversimplify the technology, generative AI uses advanced algorithms and available internet content to predict what word should come next. The fact that it is using existing content to create new content should make lawyers very nervous that the content that it generates may be extremely close to existing content on the internet. 

If you and some law firm across the street or across the country ask it to generate content on a similar topic, it may spit out very similar answers. For this reason, you should always run any AI-generated content through a plagiarism checker before publishing it. 

Keep in Mind that Without Significant Human Intervention, AI Content is Not Protected by Copyright

Earlier this year, the United States Copyright Office issued guidance regarding whether AI-generated content is subject to copyright protections. Feel free to read the entire document here, but the TLDR version is this: a work is not copyrightable when an AI generates content without human involvement, and providing a prompt is not sufficient human involvement to make a work copyrightable. In other words, if you tell an AI to “generate a blog on car accident law,” proofread it, and publish it on your website, you do not own it.

Outsource Content Creation to Legal Professionals

If this sounds like a lot to worry about when using AI to create content, it is. The reality is that in many cases, it is quicker to just write content from scratch the old-fashioned way than it is to have AI generate it and then clean it up. That said, when used correctly, AI can make parts of the content process more efficient and improve productively.

At Lexicon Legal Content, we leverage AI to create legal content for our clients that turns website visitors into clients. To learn more, call us today or send us an email.

Why Lawyers Need a Strong Content Marketing Strategy

Posted on by David B. Arato

As an attorney, you have a lot of useful legal knowledge in your head. While you use this knowledge to help your clients daily, you could also leverage it to produce useful content that would bring more prospects to your door.

For example, if you don’t already have a law blog, you’re missing out on the many benefits of legal content marketing. Only about a third of all law firms have a blog on their website that they post regularly to, giving them the upper hand.

An effective digital marketing strategy includes content marketing. Compelling content ranks well on Google and provides potential customers with information about their legal issues. No matter the size of your practice, you have the potential to rank at the top of Google and other search engines with consistent, effective legal content.

Law school may not have prepared you or other legal professionals for legal blog writing or drafting website content, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t crucial to the success of your practice.

What is Legal Content Marketing?

Whether you like it or not, traditional methods of marketing your law practice are becoming less effective and more obsolete by the minute. Taking its place is legal content marketing.

Legal content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on generating and distributing relevant, valuable, and consistent content. Content marketing aims to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable consumer action.

Effective legal content marketing involves the distribution of relevant, timely, and valuable legal content, including:

  • Blogs
  • Website content
  • Newsletters
  • White papers
  • Social media posts
  • Emails
  • Videos
  • Podcasts
  • Well researched web pages that explain legal concepts
  • Practice area pages
  • Other tools and mediums

These pieces of legal content don’t directly promote the law firm but rather stimulate some type of interest in the firm’s services. Content marketing is essential for today’s digital landscape, as consumers have become increasingly numb to typical advertising tactics.

Cultivating Relationships with Prospective Legal Clients

When legal content marketing is done correctly, it conveys expertise and value to current and potential clients and shows that you value them.

The consistent use of a well-planned law practice content marketing strategy lays the groundwork for and cultivates relationships with your prospective and existing clients. Your readers are more likely to hire you when they need legal counsel if they think of you as a:

  • Valuable source of advice and guidance
  • Partner who wants to help them solve their problems and achieve success

The Benefits of Legal Content Marketing

Content marketing can benefit your legal practice in several ways. An effective content marketing strategy will not only address legal issues but can also:

Enhance Online Visibility

You will attract more prospects and website visitors with an effective marketing strategy, especially when society is frequently searching for legal solutions to their pain points. Providing valuable, educational, and informative content about topics that interest your audience and potential clients will enhance your online visibility through your website or social media accounts.

Create More Leads

Not only does proper content marketing highlight your law firm online, but it also generates more solid leads. Educating others interested in what you have to offer builds trust and helps them feel more comfortable becoming a client. Developing relationships with prospective clients will inevitably bring more quality leads.

Boost Loyalty

Client loyalty is crucial in legal marketing and business because the more loyal your clients are, the more repeat business you will get—either from repeat clients or others they have referred to you. Offering informative content can help them start to build trust with your brand and see you as a thought leader.

Increase Authority

Developing quality, helpful content is a key ingredient to improving online authority and becoming a thought leader in your legal niche. Not only does content help you build trust with current and potential legal clients, but it can also position your law firm as the most authoritative source on a particular topic.

Streamline Meetings

The initial consultation and first few meetings with a prospective legal client are bound to be full of many questions. Giving potential legal clients informative content at every stage of their legal journey will help them find answers to questions they may have before even becoming a part of your audience.

Return on Investment

Content marketing is also excellent because it’s known to be cost-efficient as long as you are willing to learn and shift the practice as needed. There are also a lot of great legal writers out there who can write content for you. Putting together content can be a cost-efficient tactic that garners a great ROI, unlike online ads, where you’ll always have to keep spending money.

Putting Content Marketing to Work for You

Content marketing can be used to attract leads, highlight your legal services when a potential client is ready to research potential attorneys to hire, and sign legal clients. To be an effective content marketer, you must concentrate on delivering the appropriate content at each stage of the sales cycle, beginning with awareness all the way through hiring. It might sound like a complicated process; however, thinking of it this way helps simplify it.

Focus on Different Aspects of Your Legal Clients Journeys

However, the problem many content marketers have with effectively using different types of content is when they focus on only a single portion of the client journey. Instead, they pigeonhole themselves into creating every piece of content to boost awareness or generate conversions.

Unfortunately, this lopsided strategy won’t be effective because it fails to get the attention of the average person and prospective clients at each part of their journey.

But why do marketers make this mistake?

There are many possible reasons, including the following:

  • Lack of knowledge regarding how to optimize their content for each area of the sales cycle
  • Not understanding what makes content valuable to the client
  • Limited availability of resources or experience to create content

These shortfalls lead marketers to drop the ball with their content efforts.

Compelling Content Marketing in Each Stage of the Sales Cycle

Too many law firms approach sales on an ad hoc basis, which means the ball can be dropped, and sales opportunities will be missed. With a planned content marketing strategy, you will avoid this mistake.

Awareness Stage

During the first stage of the sales process, concentrate your content on your audience’s top concerns. Address their common concerns, challenges, and questions, as this provides you with the best chance of engaging with them. At this stage, your content should be educational, how-to advice. Selling should be reserved for the consideration and closing phases.

The best content for the awareness stage includes legal blog posts, articles, interactive tools, e-books, infographics, viral content, videos, and newsletters.

For instance:

  • A personal injury lawyer publishes a legal blog post about maximizing injury compensation.
  • A family attorney offers an e-book on considerations for divorcing couples with children.
  • A business attorney sends a newsletter focused on new business laws that small businesses should be aware of.

Consideration Stage

The consideration stage should transition to feature a cross between helpful information and marketing. This content aims to educate the audience about what to look for when seeking legal help and how lawyers can address their legal needs. Your content at this stage should always be on what your business offers.

Practical content ideas at the consideration stage include:

  • Case studies
  • How-to articles
  • How-to videos
  • Checklists
  • Worksheets
  • Interviews
  • Webinars

For example:

  • A family or business attorney posts a guide entitled “Three Ways to Handle the Family Business in a Divorce” that details the various options for what to do with a business owned by both spouses when divorcing.
  • A car accident lawyer conducts and publishes case studies about “The Biggest Mistakes Most Injured Victims Make When They Hire a Personal Injury Attorney.”
  • A business attorney offers a checklist on how to incorporate a small business.

Closing Stage

Content marketing plays an essential role when a prospective client is close to making a hiring decision. At this stage, it’s okay to concentrate on selling your services. But remember to continue to drive home why you are the best attorney for their needs and wants.

Shift the focus to your expertise, skills, and the differentiating benefits of what you have to offer.

The best content for this stage usually includes:

  • Case studies
  • User-generated content
  • A client’s guide
  • Informative videos
  • Research report
  • Email marketing, including a newsletter
  • Social ads

For instance:

  • A personal injury firm creates a research report proving that injured parties that hire a personal injury firm more often than not garner higher compensation for their damages.
  • A business law practice generates short videos showcasing the variety of its work across various business industries to show its capabilities and diverse expertise.
  • A family law firm encourages clients to contribute testimonials about its compassionate attorneys and top-notch legal service in court.

Steps to Creating a Content Marketing Strategy

Identify your audience

Creating content for a specific audience involves clearly understanding their challenges, priorities, and preferences. If what you have to share doesn’t provide value or interest them in some way, you will lose them before you even have them. Sometimes, crafting profiles of your desired audience members and prospects is a good idea before starting a content marketing strategy.

Select the Right Formats

When identifying what content format to start with, think about the stage of the sales cycle you are aiming for and what formats will help you showcase your value best. The right formats will vary depending on the type of law you practice and your potential audience; for some, the right content will be a legal blog post; for others, perhaps a checklist.

Ensure Quality Content

Always keep in mind that your audience will judge your marketing content on its quality, as they should. Considering this, choose the right person, internal or external, to create your content.

Perhaps you want to write your own content or feel another attorney at your firm would be better suited for the job. Or maybe you don’t feel you have the time or expertise to create your own content and want to outsource it to legal content marketing experts. You can work closely with a legal content writer, law blog writers, and your marketing department to write clean copy on a timely basis.

Furthermore, suppose you don’t outsource the job to someone else. In that case, you should strongly consider hiring a professional proofreader to review anything before it is published or sent to your audience. Editing is essential, and your reputation depends on it.

Determine Your Content Distribution

How will you distribute your law content to your audience and current and prospective clients? Will you post content on your website, email it to your list of contacts, or print it for a specific event?

Begin by thinking about “where” you know your audience will likely direct their attention, and then select formats that make sense.

For instance:

  • An article might make sense to distribute with an email
  • A graphic checklist or worksheet can be posted on your social media accounts, which will allow them to be easily shared and create more marketing opportunities for you
  • A helpful guide is a good follow-up after meeting with a prospective client

Choose a Sustainable Schedule

Once you can identify your target readership and the best formats for each sales cycle stage, create a short-term, between three and six months plan. It’s far too easy to develop an overly ambitious content marketing plan, especially when you are first starting out. Your motivation may exceed the realities of your time constraints.

However, it’s critical to consider your budget and resources so that the content plan you design is realistic. Track the time it takes you to create each piece of content so that you can build that time into your schedule. Even if you choose to outsource your content creation, you will need to account for the time it takes to take care of related tasks, such as providing topic ideas or reviewing the content they give back to you.

Adhere to Content Marketing Best Practices

Compelling content is clearly written and won’t use any jargon that only you and your legal colleagues will know. Ensure your content also includes detailed how-to advice. Often, a short, relevant, actionable piece of content is best.

SEO Considerations for Content Marketing

When done correctly, quality legal content marketing makes it easy for ideal prospects to find your law firm. However, you can significantly boost your efforts with search engine optimization (SEO).

Essential best SEO practices include the following:

Remember that keywords are the foundation of SEO efforts. These all-important words or phrases are the terms a likely prospect uses in a search engine when searching for a company, product, or service—including legal services.

Incorporate the appropriate keywords into your content, and you will attract more traffic. The best keywords are:

  • Plain language: Language your target audience uses to detail their difficulties and needs
  • Relevant: Keywords should reflect the expertise, products, and representation you provide
  • Specific: Combine your focus, legal industry expertise, prospective client needs, and other relevant details

SEO isn’t new and has evolved, so the results shown to your potential clients depend partially on your content’s quality, relevance, and if it matches its headline.

Tips for Legal Writing Keyword Use

Using the right legal content keywords throughout your legal writing and marketing content is imperative if you want it to rank and get seen by prospective clients. Here are some helpful guidelines when utilizing keywords:

  • Concentrate on one or two keywords per piece of content. Avoid “keyword stuffing.” You can do this by writing about what matters to your prospects, not just writing to be able to use keywords. Most search engines like Google will see right through your efforts if you don’t, and your content rank much lower.
  • Use your keywords in the title of your content; this way, it’s clear what the content is about.
  • Use keywords throughout the entire piece of content, but be sure to incorporate them naturally.
  • Stay on topic by providing quality content with advice related to a headline so that it will perform best.

 Putting it All Together

Whether you practice family law, criminal law, criminal defense, civil litigation, immigration law, intellectual property law, or other practice areas in the legal field, a content marketing strategy is essential in today’s competitive landscape. Building and executing your legal content marketing approach is a significant endeavor that won’t happen overnight.

However, legal professionals can get help crafting technical content and legal blog writing from legal blog writers, legal content writers, and other marketing experts with proven experience. They can also start by focusing on one area at a time, such as a legal blog or social media posts. The point is to get started somewhere and see where it takes you.