Law Firm Blog Mistakes That KILL Your Chances at Getting Clients and Increasing Your Website Ranking

Most attorneys are not marketers.  Nor are they website developers.  Believe it or not, some attorneys are not even writers!  But when it comes to legal marketing, online legal marketing is the cheapest and most effective way for an attorney to market his or her practice.  Law firm blogs are the best way to do this.  Unfortunately, there are some common law firm blog mistakes which can kill a law firm’s chances are landing clients and increasing the law firm’s website ranking.

1) Writing Like a Lawyer and Putting the Audience to Sleep

The average, American adult’s reading level is the 7th or 8th grade.  If you write your blog post like a pleading, motion, appeal, or other legal documents, the average American adult will have no idea what you are talking about–sometimes the court will not even understand what you are saying.

Lawyers like to sound fancy, which is why we use words like herewith, hereto, notwithstanding, throw Latin around, ands  a myriad of other archaic words or phases “we deem so necessary.”  But when you are trying to get a new client, especially if that client is seriously injured from a personal injury accident, he or she will forego your ergo and click on the next website.  Putting an audience to sleep with complex legalese, overly difficult legal theories, or complicated medical conditions will just glaze a prospective client’s eyes over.  This is one of many law firm blog mistakes to not make.

2) Not Blogging or Erratic Updates

If you are fortunate enough to get a prospective client to click on your website, it needs to be updated and look like it is active and you are home.  Just think, when you are looking for a contractor to fix your roof or for a new dentist, but the company’s website is old and has not been updated for months or years, what do you do?

You click “back” and find the next one.

Same thing for prospective clients!  One of the biggest law firm blog mistakes is to have one but not update it or do so randomly.  If prospective clients see a law firm blog posting 6 times in a year, or a law firm blog that has posted two a months, guess who gets the phone call?

Yes, that may not be fair.  The practice of law is difficult and time consuming, and posting on a law firm blog can just be another chore at the end of an already long and stressful day.  But that is how a customer will think.  This is why hiring a legal content writer like NAB Legal Marketing, LLC can help save you time while only costing you a little bit of money.

3) Neglecting Social Media

Congrats–you post on your blog every day!  Each post is long, interesting, educational, and otherwise perfect.  But do you tell anyone about it?

If not, you are committing more law firm blog mistakes!

Social media has the power to promote a business like no other medium we have seen before.  Even if you have a very narrow group of friends or colleagues, sharing a post and setting it to “public” could resonate with one of them who “likes” a post or shares it.  That could start a massive ripple effect all at no additional cost.  This is true even if you do not have a law firm website and just share it on you personal page.  Ask your other coworkers or colleagues to also “like” or “share” your page.

Even if it generates no leads, the extra traffic to your website and “clicks” on your blog will help increase your page rank in Google.  That, in turn, will help you come up higher on Google search results which will land you that big client you are looking for.

4) Your Law Firm Does Not Have a Legal Blog

A law firm website is great, but adding a law firm blog is what really generates your traffic, advertises your practice, and builds your web presence.  Having a law firm website without a blog is the single greatest law firm blog mistake you can have.  This is particularly true because most web hosting companies provide blogs for free.  All you have to do is set it up.  Many website plugins have RSS feeds for blogs which can connect with your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter pages.  All you have to do is post to the blog and your law firm website is being advertised.

If your law firm has a legal website without a blog, or an underperforming law firm blog, contact us today to learn how we can help you stop making these law firm blog mistakes and start retaining more clients.  Use our free and easy to use “Contact Us” box to learn how we can help your law firm practice grow.