Blogging Archives - The Attorney Marketing Center

A stupidly simple source of content ideas

August 31, 2021 by David M. Ward

You need ideas for your blog or newsletter. No worries. Just check out your competition’s websites and see what they’re writing about.

Their sites are a potential goldmine of content ideas, written from the perspective of a lawyer speaking to prospective clients.

Read through their blogs, see if they’ve covered any topics you haven’t covered. . . and. . . cover them.

You can also look for articles on subjects you have covered and see what they did differently. You might get ideas for new posts or updates on the subject.

You might agree with a post, write a similar post, and provide your own examples or client success stories.

You might disagree with a post and explain why.

If a lawyer wrote a short post, you might write a longer one and explain things they didn’t talk about.

If they wrote a lengthy post, you might write a shorter post, or a series of short posts on each of their sub-topics.

If they are in a state or country with different laws or procedures, you might write an opinion piece on why your jurisdiction should follow suit.

While you’re on their site, check out their blog comments. See what their visitors like and the questions they ask. The odds are your visitors have the same questions.

If they have a newsletter, sign up for it. They may offer additional content to subscribers that you can’t access on the website.

In short, a visit to some of your competitor’s sites is a simple way to get content ideas. Probably more ideas than you can shake a stick at.

More ways to find ideas for content: here

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters

10 tips for better blog post titles

August 9, 2021 by David M. Ward

Good blog post titles attract search traffic and social traffic and get more people reading your posts (and newsletters).

So how do you write a good title?

These10 tips should help:

Write a lot of bad titles. The more bad titles you write, the more likely you are to write some good ones. Keep an idea file, mix and match phrases to create new (and better) titles.
Check your stats. If one of your posts did well before, it will probably do well again. Update an old post with new information, change your opinion, show a different side of the issue, and write a new title to reflect this. Or just use the same title again.
Read what other lawyers write. Agree with them, disagree, point out what they missed, use your own examples. Emulate their best titles (and subjects) and use them as prompts for your own.
Numbers work well. People are drawn to specificity and order. They’re curious and want to know the “10 tips” or “7 Steps” or “5 Secrets”.
Explanations and predictions work well. Readers want to know what happened and discover what’s going to happen.
You can go wrong with “How to”. People use search engines to learn how to do something or find something or someone (a lawyer). A title that promises to deliver what they’re searching for is likely to draw more readers. Also good: What, When, or Why.
Pain and promises. Talk about your readers’ pain, show them you understand their situation, their industry, their problems, their desires, and promise solutions and benefits,
Use cultural references. Movie, song, TV and book titles, news stories, famous people, hot products, trends—things people are already thinking about, talking about, and will recognize.
Mix it up. When someone visits your blog, you want them to see some variety. Use short titles and long titles, “normal” titles and “strange” titles, intriguing questions and surprising statements. Show readers you’re not like other (boring) lawyers.
Have fun with it. Don’t (always) be so serious, don’t contort the title for SEO purposes, or try finding the perfect title. Write what comes into your head, play with it, twist it, kick it in the arse, be irreverent and bold. If a title makes you smile or laugh or cry, chances are it will do the same for your readers who will want to read your post to find out more.

Sometimes, the content of your post will drive your title. Sometimes, it works the other way around. I’ve written many posts with nothing more than a title.

Which means there are no rules, except one:

If you’re getting traffic, opt-ins, appointments and new business, you’re doing it right.

More ways to find and create good blog post titles

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Copywriting, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Writing

If a guy named Howie wrote your newsletter

July 2, 2021 by David M. Ward

Most lawyers who write a newsletter or blog or post articles on social media do something you would expect a sober professional would do. They write about serious topics and use a serious tone throughout.

While that’s generally the right call, they risk being uninteresting, predictable, and just plain boring.

All work and no play made Jack a dull boy.

Eventually, readers and followers stop reading and following.

Which kind of defeats the purpose of publishing content and staying in touch with people who can hire you and send you referrals.

If this sounds a bit like your story, take heart. The solution is simple.

Put some fun in your writing.

A dash, a dollop, a sprinkle can go a long way.

You don’t have to do a stand-up routine, just make make the occasional wry comment or play on words.

You don’t have to be silly, just report something amusing you saw or heard.

You don’t have to go completely off topic, just include a side note here and there.

You want your readers to look forward to hearing from you because they know you’re going to say something interesting or something that puts a smile on their face.

And they’ll love you for doing that because most lawyers don’t.

One place to start is in your titles and email subjects. Take what you’ve written and see if you can juice it up. Make people curious about what’s inside.

That’s what I did with the title of this post.

Start collecting interesting headlines and titles you see in the articles and emails you read, the ones that make you curious and want to continue reading. You may be able to use them by changing a word here and there to come up with something suitable for your readers.

You’ll also get better at writing your own.

You can make your articles and emails more interesting and fun to read by including things like a surprising statistic, a bold prediction, a pithy quote or a relevant story.

Give readers a taste of color or contrast, something to think about and remember. They’ll have fun reading your article and eagerly await your next.

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Writing

Why you need original content and how to create it

June 23, 2021 by David M. Ward

Many lawyers use canned content on their website and blog, articles provided by the company hired to create the site or from third parties. The problem with canned content is:

It is generic, written to appeal to “everyone” instead of the specific clients you want to attract. When you appeal to everyone, you usually appeal to no one.
The information might be accurate and helpful, but it is relatively bland, uninteresting and unlikely to hold readers’ attention.
There is no “you” in the content, nothing to show readers what you do or how you can help them. Readers want to know what it would be like to work with you.
It’s just information; there’s nothing there to engage readers and inspire them to take the next step.
It doesn’t help your SEO since the same content appears on other websites.

The solution is to create original content. Fortunately, that’s a lot easier than you might think.

Original content doesn’t mean writing something that’s never been written before, as if that were even possible. You can write about the same topics and present the same information that other attorneys write about, you just do it in your own way.

In fact, you could literally take someone else’s article, canned or otherwise, and use it as a template for you own. Change the title, the words, the order, and the length, and you should have an article that qualifies as original for SEO purposes.

Of course that doesn’t mean your article will be interesting, engaging, or make readers want to learn more about you and your services.

To do that, you need to personalize the article. Here are a few simple ways to do that:

Use examples from your own practice—cases, clients, situations—especially those that show you “in action,” doing your job. Quote your client, the judge, or opposing counsel. Nothing canned about that.
Give your opinion. Tell readers what you think, what you like, what you recommend, and why.
Disagree with conventional wisdom. “Other lawyers tell you X; here’s why I tell you Y.”
Give both sides of the argument. Explain that each case is different. Use “if/then” language to protect yourself, and invite readers to contact you to ask about their situation.
Add details from your personal life. Even something as simple as, “The freeways were jammed this morning and I was almost late to court.”
Reference your other content about the subject.
Invite readers to comment, share their own stories, or ask questions.

Personalized content gives readers something interesting to read, shows them who you are and how you can help them, and stimulates them to take the next step. Which is kinda the point.

How to use the content on your website to get more clients

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Online Marketing

Why you should email often

June 16, 2021 by David M. Ward

The other day, an entrepreneur I follow wrote and said he’s emailing daily again. He says it’s easier to email daily than to remind himself to do it occasionally.

Some readers might be turned off by a daily email, he acknowledges, but he feels it is the best way to connect and stay top-of-mind.

“I like to think of my emails like a little television show, where readers want to tune-in to see what happens next,” he says.

He also pointed out that writing daily provides him with a lot of content he can use elsewhere–on social media, in reports and handouts, blog posts and books.

Needless to say, I agree with all of the above. These are some of the reasons why I now write every week day, and why I recommend emailing at least once a week.

Not everyone will open all of your emails, and that’s fine. They regularly see your name and remember who you are and what you do. When they need a lawyer, they can quickly find your contact information or the link to your site in their inbox.

Contrast that with lawyers who only write once in awhile.

People don’t remember their name or that they signed up for their newsletter and typically let everything go to spam.

These lawyers are the ones who say, “I tried email but it didn’t work.”

Take it from me and my entrepreneur friend, email works. And emailing frequently works even better.

How to use email to get more clients and build your practice

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Email

Would you write more often if you could do this?

June 11, 2021 by David M. Ward

A blog post or newsletter can be brief. A few paragraphs, even a few sentences.

As long as you say something valuable or interesting.

Seth Godin and others do it. I just did it. You can, too.

Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Writing

I’d like to interview you for my newsletter

June 2, 2021 by David M. Ward

That’s you speaking to a fellow lawyer, a business contact, a client or friend. Someone you know who might have something to say your readers might like to know.

Another lawyer sharing a few tips about their practice area. An accountant or financial planner speaking about taxes, investing, debt or credit. A real estate broker speaking about your local market. Or one of your business clients talking about how they got started and sharing some advice for someone who wants to start their own business.

You tell them you’d like to interview them for about 20 minutes, over the phone, or you can email them some questions. They get exposure for their business or practice, your readers get to learn something new, and you get the day off.

Well, almost. You still need to edit the interview and post it but the hard work is done by the interviewee.

You supply the questions, they supply the answers.

If you say “pretty please,” they’ll also supply you with some of the questions. Questions they’ve been asked in other interviews or things they think your readers would find interesting.

They’ll also tell you what they’d like you to say about them. If not, grab their bio from their website.

Interviews are incredibly easy to do. They’re also a great marketing tool for you.

How so?

For one thing, some of your interviewees will ask to interview you for their newsletter or podcast. Or invite you to speak at their event or write a guest post for their blog.

You get more traffic, more subscribers, and more clients. One interview per month can bring you a lot of business.

In addition, doing interviews gives you the perfect excuse to reach out to influential people you don’t know but would like to. You’ll make some new contacts, some of whom might provide referrals and introductions to other influential people.

Are your wheels spinning? Good. Go tell someone you’d like to interview them.

Get my ebook on how to interview experts and professionals here

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Marketing legal services, Networking, Newsletters

Want more free traffic? Do this

May 26, 2021 by David M. Ward

You write a blog or post articles or other content on your website and you want more traffic.

More people reading what you write, more people inspired to contact you and hire you. The type of content people want to read and will gladly share share with friends and business contacts.

Your wish is my command.

One of the easiest and best sources of content comes from your readers themselves. Ask them what they want to know.

What questions do they want you to answer? What do they want you to write about? What feedback do they have on something you’ve already written?

Ask them what they want and then give it to them.

When you do that, your subscribers will read your articles to see how you answered their questions. Your other subscribers will also read them because they likely have similar questions. Visitors to your site will read your posts for the same reason.

You’ll get search traffic from people who type the very questions you answer into a search engine, and traffic from readers who share your content with their friends.

Plus, when you answer readers’ questions, you don’t have to scramble to come up with ideas to write about.

In addition, as you answer questions, your other readers see that they can submit questions and ideas and do just that.

Hold on, a lawyer in the back of the room has his hand up. He says he likes this idea and wants to know where to start.

Start with your email inbox. No doubt your clients and prospects have asked you many questions over the years. Now you can answer them.

Ask your blog and newsletter readers and social media connections to submit questions or ideas.

And keep your ears open.

People ask you questions all the time. You may see them as an annoyance, people looking for free advice. Instead, see them as fodder for your next post.

What’s that? You don’t have a big list of followers or subscribers? Your subscribers are bashful and don’t typically ask questions or submit ideas?

No problemo.

Visit other attorneys’ blogs in your practice area and see what their subscribers are asking them.

Well, there you have it. And easy way to create more content and get more traffic. What else would you want to know?

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters, Web traffic

A simple idea for your next newsletter or blog post

March 19, 2021 by David M. Ward

Your clients and prospects see lawyers at work on TV and in the movies and think this is a realistic depiction of what lawyers do. They might be a bit disappointed to learn that our work isn’t glamorous and problems don’t get solved in 42 minutes, but they are curious about what lawyers do.

If you’re looking for ideas to write about in your newsletter or blog, educate your readers about the “legal industry” and what you do in your practice.

Here are a few idea to stimulate that big brain of yours:

What a typical day looks like for me
How I get new clients
Why I advertise/don’t advertise
How Zoom meetings have changed my practice
The software tools I use every day
Top ten questions I get from prospective clients
How I decide to take a case (and what I do if I don’t)
Legal fees, costs, and retainers, oh my
Why some lawyers earn more than others
Malpractice: what is it and what lawyers do to avoid it
Questions I ask prospective clients before I take their case
What I tell new clients before I start working on their case
What I’ll tell you if you ask me, “How much is my case worth?”
How often do I need to update my [business/estate documents?]
Phone, mail, email, or text: how I communicate with my clients
Why I (usually) love what I do (and when I don’t)

Articles like these are quick to write, give people interesting and helpful information about a subject that interests them, and helps them appreciate what you do. When someone is looking for a lawyer, this is precisely the kind of information that can help them decide to choose you.

Tell people about your work. Even if it’s not glamorous.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Email, Legal industry, Marketing legal services, Newsletters

When you don’t know what to write, write one of these

February 15, 2021 by David M. Ward

It’s called a listicle and it’s exactly what it sounds like–an article that is basically a list. They’re easy to write because you don’t need to provide a lot of detail or analysis, and the title or headline usually writes itself:

3 things you MUST do before you file for divorce
5 reasons bankruptcy might not be right for you
10 ways to help your personal injury lawyer get a bigger settlement for you
11 websites I recommend to all my estate planning clients
Want to re-negotiate your lease? Here are 15 ideas that might save you a fortune
22 tips for small business owners who want to get paid
127 reasons why you should hire me instead of any other lawyer

Kidding about the last one. Or am I?

Readers like listicles because they know they can scan the article and find a few useful ideas.

To write your first (or next) listicle, start by brainstorming topics, things prospective clients usually ask you, for example. Also brainstorm ideas or tips for the body of your article.

If you don’t have enough content, visit your favorite search engine and scoop up more tips, answers, or ideas. Don’t forget to visit other lawyers’ blogs.

For future listicles, start collecting tips or ideas and saving them to a file. Also collect listicle-type headlines you can use as templates.

You can use a listicle headline from any field. For example, the headline, “5 Steps to Improving Your Garden” can become “5 Steps to Updating Your Estate Plan”.

More ideas for blog posts and articles can be found here

Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Writing