5 reasons why your law firm should not have a blog

It might seem strange for a company that provides specialist legal content to explain why your law firm should not have a blog, but we pride ourselves on our honesty!

When we speak to legal partners and solo attorneys we often find that they don’t know why they have a blog attached to their firm website, or if they do they don’t think it is doing them much good. As much as we create compelling and readable content about legal topics for non-specialist audiences, we don’t believe that every firm should have a blog, or even needs a blog to build a thriving and successful practice.

Here are 5 reasons why your law firm should not have a blog!

law firm should not have a blog

1. If you have a website that is primarily static: Think billboard rather than an information source.

You are only interested in having a website to show that you have an office and a phone number they can call. After all, your website has never yielded you, clients, before so how could anything change? A blog with consistently updated content – that provides dynamic content and engages prospective clients before they even call you – has been extremely effective at raising the authority quotient of some of the most successful firms. Do you want to be considered an authority in your area of practice? Do you want to appear high in search engine searches? A blog can go a long way to making this happening. Are you interested in decreasing your marketing and public relations costs? (or indeed gaining public relations traction that does not rely on the goodwill of the editor of the local newspaper?)

A blog is not a magic bullet, but it can be an important tool in increasing your website visits to client conversion rate!

2. You have a blog because your developer suggested it but you don’t know why you need it.

You figured, why not, everyone else seems to have one. But, deep down you have no idea why your firm has a blog. Just as you have a strategy when you approach a case, a communications consultant can help you develop a holistic plan that addresses external and internal communications. Read Why you should Hire a Communications Consultant.

We look at how a blog fits into your communications strategy (if it does at all – we’re bluntly honest around here) and if it does an action plan to achieve the results you are looking for – increase in client inquiries, better-educated clients or billable hours on cases in your area of practice. Read more about our communications consulting services.

3 3. You don’t have a plan for how to create content and leverage that content

Having a Blog on your website and knowing why and how it fits into your firm’s communications strategy is just the first step. Your time is money, literally – so let’s make sure you understand how essential it is that you approach your website and blog in a cohesive and strategic way. One of the tools we use for content creation is an editorial calendar (or a content calendar). This editorial calendar is aligned with your goals and often includes 1-3 social media channels as well as blog content to make sure that your message is consistent.

Once you know what content needs to be created and when it will be published, it is important not to waste a golden opportunity. This golden opportunity is that of momentum and another way of describing how we make the most of it is leverage. We leverage all the work put into creating and publishing web and social media content by ensuring that it is being amplified as widely as possible to the audience(s) you are targeting. A key final step in developing an editorial calendar is the development of a leverage checklist that incorporates quality control, amplification, paid and unpaid promotion, and your other marketing goals as detailed in your communications strategy.

We can help with content creation and content leveraging.

4 4. You don’t have in-house content creators AND you’re not willing to outsource to skilled content creators.

The average associates time is billed at $200/hr. Now, you could also have them write articles for your firm’s blog. They may be brilliant at it, but the odds are that it will take them longer and ultimately cost you more than it will cost to have specialist writers, like Anna Blanch Rabe & Associates, to write content for your law firm website. Consider that we spend an average of 4 hours researching, writing, and editing each specialist legal topic article and yet our pricing is significantly less than the $800 in billable hours your associate may have spent writing – and that’s assuming they can do it as fast as we can (and we do it all the time).

If you don’t have skilled in-house creators, we are here to help. You know what, even if you have skilled writers in the house (after all a vast majority of you also have law degrees), skilled specialist writers can cost you far less. Our legal writers also offer the added benefit of inbound marketing knowledge and calls to action being incorporated into the articles!

If you’re don’t have skilled in-house content creators AND you’re not willing to outsource to skilled content creators then your law firm should not have a blog as part of your firm website.

Read more about Anna Blanch Rabe & Associates work creating specialist legal content for law firms.

5 5. You’re not willing to invest in ongoing technical assistance to ensure the backend and content management system are updated as necessary.

A website is not a “set it and forget it” proposition. Even if you don’t have a blog you need to budget for website maintenance and updates and if you don’t you’re asking for trouble. But, if you do have a blog, it is imperative to invest in ongoing technical assistance to ensure the backend and content management system are updated on a regular basis as needed.

This is not a service we provide, but we have trusted partners we can refer you to that understand the need for additional security and privacy. Bottom line: if you’re not willing to budget for ongoing maintenance then your law firm really shouldn’t have a blog – in fact, your law firm probably shouldn’t even have a website.

 

Arrange a free consultation with us today!