Content creation Archives - The Attorney Marketing Center

4 ways to produce more content in less time

February 9, 2021 by David M. Ward

Content marketing is a simple concept. You write or record something that educates your target market about legal problems and solutions and thus show them what you do and how you can help them. This brings you more traffic, more subscribers, more followers, more new clients, repeat clients, and referrals.

You can use articles, blog posts, newsletters, podcasts, video channels, social media, and other means to disseminate your content.

Sounds good, right, but producing a steady stream of content for a blog or newsletter or podcast, takes time, and you don’t have that time.

Never fear, here are 4 ways to get the job done more quickly.

1) Don’t write, re-write

Re-write your old posts and articles with fresh examples and stories, updates to the law, or different ways of saying what you said before.

You can also “slice and dice”. Cut up old posts and combine them into new ones.

No doubt have lots of material on your hard drive that can be re-written, updated, or re-purposed. Or, if it’s been awhile since you published something, publish it again.

You can also re-write someone else’s content. Use their idea and basic structure but your words, examples and stories.

2) Don’t write one article, write ten

Instead of writing one blog post on a topic, write 3. Or ten.

Take a subject you know well, or research for an hour or two, and write a month’s worth of articles on different aspects of that subject.

It’s called “bundling” or “batching” and it’s a great way to produce a lot of content.

If you handle personal injury, for example, you could write about tort law, the claims process, how cases are evaluated, medical treatment, liens, first party insurance, negotiation, and a lot more. And that doesn’t include litigation.

3) Write less

Instead of writing lengthy newsletters, like I see many attorneys do, cut them up into shorter articles, one subject per post. People don’t have time to read 3000 words. Help them (and yourself) by delivering 300.

4) Write faster

You can write content more quickly by outlining it first and then dictating it. Pretend you’re teaching a class or doing a presentation on the subject–talk, record, transcribe, edit, done.

Something else:

The more you write, the quicker you get at writing. Write often and you’ll soon crank out a lot more content in a lot less time.

I’ve used all of these tactics and they work. They’ve helped me produce millions of words, which have brought me millions of dollars.

Now it’s your turn.

How to write more content for your blog

Filed Under: Content creation, Productivity, Writing

What secret word unlocks email marketing success (But isn’t a secret)?

January 26, 2021 by David M. Ward

One word. A word that can turn a boring newsletter, blog post, or article into something your subscribers look forward to reading. A word that helps you forge relationships with your readers and bring them closer to hiring you and referring you.

The word is hardly a secret. You use it every day in conversation, but perhaps not so much in your newsletter, articles, and blog posts, because “experts” tell you to avoid it.

The word? “I”.

Yes, talk about yourself.

Of course you will mostly talk about your reader–their problems, their wants and needs, their niche market or community.

Talk about subjects that interest your reader, but don’t leave yourself out of the picture.

Tell your story. Let people get to know you and what it’s like to work with you.

Because you are the solution to their problems.

When you talk about the law, use examples and stories from your practice. Talk about how you’ve dealt with these issues before, on behalf of other clients.

Describe yourself in action, talking to people, creating documents, writing letters, arguing or negotiating on behalf of your clients.

Your readers what to know what you’ve done for other clients, because it shows them what you can do for them.

Don’t make your newsletter all about you. But don’t forget to talk about yourself, because that’s how your readers get to know, like and trust you.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Content creation, Email, Newsletters, Writing

Your idea stinks. Congratulations.

January 15, 2021 by David M. Ward

Your lists are overflowing with ideas. Ideas for growing your practice, managing your investments, raising your kids, places to see and things to do and thousands of other things you saw or heard or thought.

You have pages of notes and “someday/maybe” tasks, deferred projects, techniques for getting more organized, strategies for increasing your productivity, and ways to find inner peace.

You have lists of books to read and videos to watch, ideas for blog posts and articles to write, courses to take, and websites to explore.

Am I right or am I right?

I know I’m right because I have these, too.

Let’s be honest. Let’s admit that most of these ideas aren’t very good and (thankfully) we’ll never do most of them.

But that doesn’t mean we should stop collecting bad ideas because out of that massive list of bad ideas come a few good ones.

And a few good ideas is all we need.

The thing is, if we only pay attention to good ideas, we stifle our ability to find the good ones.

Seth Godin said:

“People who have trouble coming up with good ideas, if they’re telling you the truth, will tell you they don’t have very many bad ideas. But people who have plenty of good ideas, if they’re telling the truth, will say they have even more bad ideas. So the goal isn’t to get good ideas; the goal is to get bad ideas. Because once you get enough bad ideas, then some good ones have to show up.”

—Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss

The lesson is simple: if you want more good ideas, write down more bad ones.

Filed Under: Content creation, Productivity, success

What topic could you be interviewed about for 30 minutes with zero preparation?

January 8, 2021 by David M. Ward

This was a headline for an ad I saw on social media. It’s a good headline and a good question for those who want to create more content to use in their marketing.

Which is something every lawyer should do.

My challenge to you is to answer that question and then turn your knowledge into a short presentation, a long article or blog post, or a series of emails for your newsletter.

Because people want to know what you know.

When you share your knowledge this way, they’ll want to ask you about their specific situation and hire you to help them.

Put your content online and it will live there forever, bringing you clients for years to come.

An easy way to do this is to have a friend interview you about your subject. Give them some starter questions to ask you and have at it.

Or, interview yourself.

Record yourself speaking about the subject for 30 minutes, transcribe the recording, and you’ll have a valuable piece of content. Or at least the first draft.

Or, keep talking for another 30 minutes and you’ll have enough for a short book.

One thing I can tell you, if you know your subject, the time will go quickly. 30 minutes will feel like 5. Which means you’ll have the rest of the day to talk on another topic people want to know.

My ebook, The Easy Way to Write a Book, shows you everything you need to know

Filed Under: Content creation, Writing

I’d like to interview you

January 6, 2021 by David M. Ward

Getting interviews is easy. Tell people you’d like to interview them for a book, an article or blog post, or as a guest on your podcast or channel. Most people will say yes.

Most people are flattered to be asked and excited to get exposure for their work or their cause.

What’s in it for you?

More content for your blog or newsletter or channel. Or a book–I turned an interview with successful appellate lawyer, Steven Emmert into a book, How to Build a Successful Appellate Practice
More traffic to your blog or web site or book sales page from followers of the interviewee or people searching for them
You get to connect with influential people you might otherwise never meet, which could lead to other marketing opportunities or referrals
You get to learn something you can use in your practice or personal life
They may ask to interview you for their blog, podcast or book

You can interview one expert or several (and aggregate them for your article or book).

You can record and transcribe the interview, as I did for my book, or email questions they can answer at their leisure.

Interviews are easy. Here are 3 tips for making them even easier (and better):

Before the interview, ask them to send you their profile or “introduction” and what they want to promote (their book, their website, their offer, etc., and links thereto).
Ask them to send you five or ten questions they’d like you to ask them. Add these to your own. Your readers or listeners will get better information and you’ll get a better (and easier) interview.
Ask open ended questions. Get them to open up, share examples and stories, and reveal something interesting about themselves.

Interviewing fellow professionals and other experts is an easy and effective way to market your practice. I should write a book about it. Wait, I already did: The Easy Way to Write a Book

Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services

The biggest sin in marketing legal services

November 12, 2020 by David M. Ward

There are a lot of ways to go wrong in your marketing. Here are just a few:

Wasting time or money on strategies that aren’t working
Shotgun marketing: trying to sell everything, e.g., all of your services, to everyone at the same time
Not pre-qualifying prospective clients
Chasing instead of attracting
Not using a “call-to-action” (telling prospects what to do)
Not differentiating yourself from other lawyers
Not following up with prospects
Not building a list
Not staying in touch with former clients

These can all cost you clients and hurt your bottom line.

The biggest sin in marketing, however, is being boring.

People won’t read boring articles. They won’t watch boring videos or listen to boring podcasts. They won’t follow boring people on social media.

You might get your marketing message in front of a lot of people who need your help or who can refer people who do, and get nowhere because they never read or relate to your message.

If you want people to hire you or build a relationship with you, you’ve got to get and keep their interest.

Fortunately, this isn’t difficult to do.

It starts with researching the people you want to attract.

Study their market or industry, their problems and desires, so you can show them you understand them and what they want or need, and are uniquely qualified to help them get it.

How to research your target market and ideal client

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Marketing legal services

2 things you need to know before your next paper or presentation

October 30, 2020 by David M. Ward

You’re working on a presentation, paper, article, brief or book. You’re about to have a conversation with a client or prospect, negotiate a contract or address a jury. You’re writing an email for your newsletter or to someone you’d like to meet.

Any time you have a message to communicate, there are two things you need to know first:

Your audience.

Who are they and what do you know about them and their situation? What’s important to them? What do they already know about you and your subject? How will they benefit from reading or listening to your message?

Your purpose.

Why are you writing to or speaking with them? What do you want them to know? Why is this important? What do you want them to do after they read or listen to your message?

Give this some thought, make some notes, and then distill this information into a single sentence:

“As a result of my [talk, paper, email, etc.], they will understand [this] and respond by doing [this].”

For example:

“After reading my [email/blog post/article], they will understand the benefits for [updating their estate planning/corporate documents and the problems that can occur if they don’t], and respond by [making an appointment].”

Answering these questions before you write or speak will help you create a more effective message and make it more likely you’ll get the response you want.

[Based on this article about writing a better speech]

How to build your practice with email

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Writing

Timeless or Timely?

August 6, 2020 by David M. Ward

If you produce content for a blog, a newsletter, a podcast, or anywhere else, one question you need to answer is how much of that content should be evergreen.

Evergreen content is important because that’s what first-time visitors to your blog and new subscribers to your newsletter are looking for. They have questions or a problem and they’re looking for answers.

If you’re starting a new blog, make sure you have at least 10 or 15 evergreen posts to start out.

Talk about the kinds of things clients typically ask you about. Talk about problems and solutions, risks and benefits, frequently asked questions about your services, and the like.

These serve as the foundation of your blog, attracting visitors though search and sharing, and helping them to understand their situation and learn what you do and how you can help them.

Once you have some evergreen content posted, you can write about anything else, whether timeless or timely.

Write about your interesting cases or clients, news in your target market’s industry or niche, trends, ideas, and more.

Yes?

One more thing.

On a blog, you have the option to indicate the date each post was published, something I’ve done since I started and still do today. Some visitors, however, see an older date and conclude that the information is out of date, even if it’s not.

Omitting the date, on the other hand, as many bloggers do, may cause visitors to wonder how current the information is, and reject it if no date can be found.

If you’re wondering what you should do, take a gander at what Darren Rowse of Problogger.com says about the pros and cons of timestamping blog posts.

And, for more about the kinds of content to include on your blog or website–what to write about, where to get ideas–check out my course on online marketing.

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

If you want more clients, don’t use your thesaurus

July 24, 2020 by David M. Ward

Yeah, we’re smart folks. We can research the hell out of a subject, wrangle all the facts, present cogent arguments, and persuade other smart people to change their minds.

When you visit many lawyer’s blogs, read their articles, or hear them speak, you have to be impressed by their acumen. And their vocabulary.

The problem is, when a lawyer does this in their marketing, they usually shoot themselves in the foot.

If you want to get more clients and increase your income, keep things simple and short. Focus on the basics, not the minutia.

On the web, people tend to search for general information about their legal situation. If you try to impress them, they often wind up leaving. If you give them what they’re looking for, you get more traffic, more leads, more subscribers, and more clients.

In addition, when you write simply, you don’t have to do much research or spend a lot of time crafting fine prose. You already know this stuff and you can spit it out in a few minutes.

When you stick with the basics, more people will read and understand you. You’re helping them get to know, like, and trust you.

Finally, your goal in marketing is to make people curious, not satisfy their curiosity. So don’t tell them everything. Stick to the basics and if they want more, they have to hire you.

Which is kind of the point.

If you want to make your phone ring, here’s what to put on your website

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Writing