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How to make it easier for readers to grok your content

October 28, 2021 by David M. Ward

Yesterday, I talked about the importance of making it easier for folks to access your content. Today, I want to elaborate on this subject, and share a few ways to make the content they read more readable.

But not just readable, effective. Meaning readers (and listeners) not only understand your message, they relate to it, and to you.

This isn’t difficult. Just different from what most people do. And that’s what makes it effective.

Come to them, don’t make them come to you. Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, send your email or article to them, so they can read it immediately, instead of asking them to click and come to your website to do that.
Don’t send “a newsletter,” send an email. It’s more personal and conversational, and more inviting to read.
Keep it simple: one subject, one “lesson,” one offer, one call to action.
Keep it short. They’ll give you a minute or two. If you have more to say, save it for next time (as I’m doing here).
Make it LOOK easy to read. Short paragraphs and sentences, bullet points, CAPS and bold and other visual elements.
Help them or entertain them. Tell them something they can use, and/or tell them something interesting.
Facts tell, stories sell. More stories make your content more readable, relatable, and persuasive.
Lighten up. Use warnings and cautionary tales sparingly. You want to inspire readers and give them hope for a better future, not crush them with despair.
Don’t tell them everything. Tell them enough to frame the problem and possible solutions. Make them come to you to find out more.
Talk to your readers, not at them. Ask them questions to get them thinking or to make your point, and ask them to reply and/or ask you questions.

I see a lot of lawyers’ content that does a great job of “posturing,” that is, showing readers they know what they’re doing and they are very busy doing it. We all need to do that to some extent.

But there’s something to be said for showing readers that besides being “hard to get,” we are also “good to know”.

How to use email to build your law practice

Filed Under: Content creation, Email, Newsletters, Writing

Why your readers aren’t reading

October 27, 2021 by David M. Ward

You work hard to produce good content. Intelligent, thoughtful, interesting articles and posts. You share valuable ideas in your newsletter or your website or content management system.

Maybe you do videos, podcasts, or webinars. Maybe you regularly interview experts and authors and other smart people with something valuable to offer.

Unfortunately, your numbers tell you the folks aren’t reading or watching. Let alone contacting you to find out more about how you can help them.

Is content marketing a failed idea?

No.

Do you need to upgrade your research, writing, and content production skills? Get a better camera, microphone, or lighting set-up?

No.

Your subscribers and followers may not be reading or watching your content simply because you make it difficult for them to do that.

I get a lot of newsletters I’d like to read but don’t because I’d have to follow a link to a website, maybe log-in, maybe download something.

Sorry, I don’t want to bother.

Almost daily, I get emails that don’t share any ideas or information, but invite me to register for yet another webinar or “summit”.

Looks like it might be great, but I don’t have time for that.

I get sent links to a lot of videos. Five minutes, I might be your boy. 20 minutes, sorry, maybe another time.

I might like to read your pdf or ebook, but I’m in the middle of something else right now. Okay, I’ll download it and read it later, but let’s face it, later usually never happens.

And hey, I don’t want to give you my email address again. I’ve been your subscriber for years. And now I’m going to get two of everything from you? Thanks, but no thanks.

Like most folks, I decide to read or watch something in a second or two. If the next step is to start reading or watching, I might do it. If the next step requires me to register for something, put something on my calendar, invest an hour or two of my time, the odds are I won’t.

Sometimes I will. But not every time.

Bottom line: if I have to spend a lot of time to get to your content before I can consume it, on most days, the answer will be a hard no.

Love ya, but I’m busy and have to move on. You set up too many hoops for me to jump through, and I’m not in the mood.

So I never see much of your best content.

My advice to anyone who wants to build their business or practice with content of any kind: make it easy for people to access that content.

More readers, more leads. More leads, more clients.

How to use a simple email newsletter to build a law practice

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

Tell ’em what you did, not what you’re going to do

October 21, 2021 by David M. Ward

If you want an easier way to create content, a good rule of thumb is to share stories about what you’ve done rather than what you plan to do.

Two reasons.

The first reason is pragmatic. When you predict something or share your plans for the future, there’s too much pressure on you to perform.

You might describe a case you’re working on, for example, and talk about the possible outcome. A lot of things can go wrong, however, and if they do, you’ll be left having to explain.

Which might make you look less formidable.

Why not make it easy on yourself? Wait until the case is done, share the results, and then talk about why things turned out the way they did.

And, if you didn’t get the results you wanted or predicted, or did something that hurt the case, you don’t have to write about the case at all.

CYA, my friend.

The second reason to talk about what you did instead of what you’re going to do is that it makes for a better story.

Telling your readers you’re going to deliver a presentation next week is okay. It’s also a good idea if you’re trying to fill seats. But it’s an announcement, and not terribly exciting.

Telling them about the presentation you delivered last week, on the other hand, is a story and it might be a good one. You can describe what happened—the size of the crowd, anecdotes about how you were introduced, some people you met, questions you were asked, and so on.

Much more interesting.

(Yes, do both. Promote the presentation and do a recap.)

That’s all I have for you today. What will I talk about tomorrow? C’mon, if you’ve read this far, you know I don’t want to tell you what I’m going to do. . . okay, okay, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I guess we’ll both find out tomorrow.

Build your practice with an email newsletter

Filed Under: Content creation, Email, Newsletters, Writing

What’s the best lead magnet?

October 20, 2021 by David M. Ward

What’s the best freebie to offer people as an incentive for signing up for your email list?

A report? Ebook? Checklist? Form? Webinar?

The format isn’t that important. What’s important is that you offer your target market something they want enough to get them to give you their email.

So, what do they want?

They want to solve a problem, learn about the process, understand their options, get their questions answered, make a better decision. . .

Offer them that and they’ll sign-up.

But don’t spend days or weeks creating the perfect lead magnet. You can create something that’s “good enough” in just a few minutes.

Here’s how:

Write down 5 or 10 questions prospective clients typically ask you before they hire you. You know the drill: questions about the law, procedure, their risks, their options, your services, how you can help them, how to get started.
Grab your phone and dictate answers to these questions.

You can also spend a minute or so telling them about yourself, how you work with your clients, and what to do if someone wants more information or is ready to take the next step.

No hard sell. Just information.

And you’re done.

Yep, you can copy that recording and make it your lead magnet.

Or transcribe the recording, edit it, and use that.

Give it a title that promises the benefit they want. And start offering it.

Remember, good enough is good enough. You can improve it later.

The point is, you need to create something today so you can offer it on your website tomorrow.

Because every visitor to your site who doesn’t opt-in is, you must assume, not coming back.

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters, Online Marketing Tagged With: Building your list, lead generation, Lead magnet

Hmm, what shall I write about today?

October 13, 2021 by David M. Ward

Continuing my quest to equip you with a never-ending supply of ideas for your blog or newsletter or other content, or rather strategies for finding ideas, comes something so simple, you might kick yourself for not thinking of it.

To wit: Amazon’s best sellers lists.

The non-fiction best sellers lists are updated daily or hourly and are an accurate indication of what people are buying and reading.

Which means, if you write about those subjects, they’ll want to read that, too. Not only that, if you post your article online, you will help readers to find your article (and you) via search engines.

Instead of trying to guess what people want to read, let Amazon (and other bookstores) tell you exactly what they want to read.

Start by looking at books about legal subjects, of course. But also look at books on subjects that might interest your target market.

For business clients, that would include topics specific to their industry or niche and the people in them. But also general business books, because every business wants to know about marketing, productivity, leadership, sales, and a ‘ho bunch more.

Consumers are interested in a long list of subjects: insurance, debt, credit, investing, and the list goes on.

You’re in business, and you are a consumer. Find something that interests you and you’ll probably have something that will interest your readers.

You can browse by category or use the search box to search by keyword. You can stick with best sellers or drill down into niche topics, but either way, look for books that are selling well.

What then?

No, you don’t have to buy the books. Or download them via Kindle Unlimited. You don’t have to read any of the books, unless you want to. You can get plenty of ideas to write about by looking at:

The title. What solutions does the book promise? What will the reader learn or be better able to do as a result of reading the book? You might even use a variation of the book’s title as the title of your post or article.
The sales page. In particular, look at the headline and the bullet points. They should supply you with a plethora of ideas and might also be suitable for the title of your post.
The table of contents. Use the “look inside” feature to read the chapter titles and sub-titles.
The introduction. You can also “look inside” and read the first few pages of the book, to see how the author approaches the topic.
Reviews and comments. See what readers and reviewers liked about the contents of the book, what they didn’t like, and what they wanted to know that might not have been addressed.

In a few minutes, you should have enough content ideas to keep you busy for a long time. Hell, you might even have enough ideas to write your own book.

How to write an email newsletter that brings in new business

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Email, Newsletters

Content marketing when you don’t know what to say

September 27, 2021 by David M. Ward

Content marketing is a simple and effective way to market legal services. You create content, your target market consumes it, they learn something interesting or useful, and come back for more.

You build a following who come to know, like, and trust you. When they have a legal problem, they come to you for help.

You know this. But you resist doing it because:

(1) It takes a lot of time.

How much is “a lot”? Would you invest one hour a week if it meant bringing in one new client per week?

I’ll let you do the math.

You can also outsource or delegate a lot of the work. (Don’t outsource all of it, though. Your content needs to speak with your voice

(2) It’s not right for my market.

My clients don’t read, don’t watch videos, and don’t want to hear from me because it reminds them of bad times.

Fair enough. But your professional contacts can read and don’t mind hearing from you, and they can send you more business and introduce you to other professionals who can do the same

(3) I don’t know what to say.

You know a lot more than you think. And if you’ve been reading my daily word-bombs, you know you can write about almost anything.

And you can improve.

Start by reading (and watching videos, podcasts) outside your field of expertise. You’ll get more ideas than you can ever use.

Read about things that interest you. You’ll find that your audience is interested in a lot of things that interest you, too. Are you thinking about getting a new iPad or phone? Guess what? So are a good percentage of your readers and followers.

Read about your target market. You can’t go wrong talking about the people, the issues, and the news that’s a part of their world.

If you have business clients, read (and write) about business and marketing and other issues your clients deal with daily.

If you represent consumers, read and write about things consumers want and need to know (investing, debt, credit, insurance, etc.).

Read, learn new ideas and stories, and share this with your readers, along with your comments, experiences, and suggestions.

And yes, you can also talk about your kids, friends, hobbies, sports, games, and anything else that strikes your fancy.

That’s how your readers get to know and like and trust you.

How to build your practice with email content

Filed Under: Content creation, Newsletters, Writing

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 canâ€™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

Not too hot, not too cold

August 18, 2021 by David M. Ward

When it comes to communicating with your list(s), whether through a newsletter, blog, social media or any other mechanism, you have to ask yourself, “How much is enough?” and “How much is too much?”

How often should I contact them? What is a good length or word count for my articles or posts or videos?

Because if you send them too much or too often, you might overwhelm them and lose them. They might unsubscribe or they might stop reading or listening and responding.

But the same can happen if you give them too little.

If they don’t see value in what you send them, or they don’t hear from you often enough and forget who you are, they will leave or tune you out.

That’s not necessarily fatal, however. The only metric that really counts is the amount of business you get from your articles or posts.

How many new clients, repeat clients, up-sells and cross-sells, and referrals is the only thing that matters. Everything else is nice to have but not essential, even if you could track it.

Opens? Clicks? Shares? Engagement? Hard to track, and if you have a small list, usually not worth the effort.

Capice?

Still, you don’t want to overwhelm people with too much information, any more than you want them to stop following or listening to you because you send them too little.

You also don’t want to make more work for yourself than necessary.

You want to build a “relationship” with them, so that they come to know, like and trust you, and eventually hire or refer you. You do that by providing valuable and interesting information, and making it good enough that they look forward to getting your next.

What makes it good enough? It doesn’t need to be brilliant or exhaustive. It simply needs to be interesting and relevant to your readers.

As for quantity, when it comes to a newsletter or blog post, I suggest you publish or post once a week. Often enough to keep your name in front of your list, but not so often that anyone tunes out or you can’t keep it up.

And keeping it up is important because you never know when someone will be ready to hire an attorney or has a friend who needs one.

You can publish more often than once a week. Whether or not you should do that depends on your practice area, your market, and you.

You need to find a happy middle ground, one which keeps people reading and responding, and allows you to publish regularly, without taking up too much of your time.

As for length, a few paragraphs or a few hundred words are enough, and certainly not too much. You’ll never overwhelm anyone by sending them something they can consume in 2 or 3 minutes.

Shorter posts are easier to write and take less time. You can do everything in less than an hour a week.

Not too hot, not too cold. It’s just about right.

How to build your practice with a weekly newsletter

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Email, Newsletters