Every year, our law firm customers publish thousands and thousands of informative, engaging, topical and timely blog posts. In aggregate, these posts answer questions, spark conversation and provide insight for literally millions of blog readers.
That’s millions of unique visits and views to our customers’ blogs and websites. That’s pretty impressive. But this powerful solution can delivers benefits that extend beyond visits and views.
The value of blogs in a nutshell
Every day, more and more individuals are going online to seek out legal information. And every day, more and more Internet users are saying their decisions were influenced by informational and topically relevant content and conversation.
Whether integrated with your FirmSite or on its own standalone domain, establishing and maintaining a blog that is frequently updated with meaningful and topically consistent content can be an extremely valuable addition to an effective legal marketing portfolio. Blogs can:
- Help establish topical expertise and social authority around your firm’s area of practice.
- Increase your firm’s visibility to searchers looking for information, not marketing messages.
- Expand the firm’s online footprint by serving the needs of an additional (and potentially very large) audience that is not particularly receptive to commercially-oriented content.
- Help your firm become a trusted resource for members of the community or communities it serves.
At its core, a blog is designed to bring visibility to your firm, not just as a source for immediate legal help, but as a valuable resource for information and insight. This builds trust in readers. Trust is essential, because the law firm any individual trusts is the law firm they will contact when they need help, and the law firm they will refer their friends, family members and co-workers to.
Put simply, the purpose of a blog is to seed your marketplace with future leads. And due to their non-obvious approach to marketing – building trust and authority vs. outright “selling” – blogs are uniquely positioned to influence and drive one of the most powerful marketing channels any firm has – word-of-mouth referral.
So the next time you have an idea for a quick blog post but are tempted to put it off, remember that this is not only an opportunity to communicate your knowledge, insight and perspective to today’s potential clients, but also to build relationships with tomorrow’s potential clients and referrers.
With those substantial benefits in mind, it’s not hard to see that spending a small amount of time to create a blog post or two each week can be a very wise investment in your firm’s current and future success.